All right, honey. What would you call the constant care an infant needs, if it isn’t work?
American Heritage Dictionary; Work, definition:
Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something. ”Cleaning the basement was a lot of work."
Such effort or activity by which one makes a living; employment. ”looking for work."
Again, kids are work. And since, as another lemming pointed out, some people do it as an actual job, it counts under both definitions.
And if you do hie off to the Bahamas, you still have to bring that work along. You can’t just leave it behind and just have a relaxing vacation with nothing to do. (Unless you find a babysitter, but then you’re not doing the work of childcare anymore; now you’re using maternal leave for something that isn’t work).
Yeah, but you couldn’t just hall off to the Bahamas or whatever; you were still glued to the kid. Still looking after them 24/7.
Yes, it becomes routine, but It’s still a routine, you still have a lot to do, and again, no call-outs, you’re on-call all day. It may not be a ‘job’, but it is still work.
Babies are work. They are constant, screaming, pooping, work. Not even 9-5 work, because a very young infant requires around-the-clock care, so really it’s worse than work.
At least in a regular job you can punch out and leave work at the office and go home and relax, or call in sick if you don’t feel good. None of that with a baby. You have to always be there for them, all day, all night, no matter what, no matter how you feel.
I think we’re also running into an issue of language, however. ‘Time Off’, as in, not being in the office for an extended period of time, yes, maternity leave is that. ‘Time Off’ as in, a rest, relaxation, vacation, no. Maternity leave is most definitely not that.
On a more serious note, I do think it’s kinda dumb that local attractions have to pay to be on those signs. You’d think it would be more of a community funded thing to encourage more tourists.
@Seleni
@lemmy.world