Oh sure, you could buy something cute from their regular ol’ baby registry but what do most new moms really want? Time. Real quality time with their new baby. Time to recover from pregnancy and childbirth.
And that time is money.
Few U.S. employers offer a full 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, simply because it isn’t mandated in this country. That too-often forces working moms to become separated from their newborns and shuffled back into the office prematurely.
That’s where the Take 12 maternity leave registry service comes in. It provides a way for expecting women to crowdsource their maternity leave. Friends and family can sign up to cover the costs of quality time.
Margi Scott, a mom of four, founded Take 12 as a way to address the problem. She writes:
This is not an entitlement issue. Mothers need time with their babies after birth to bond and recover from labor and pregnancy…
THE POINT is that as a nation we put undue emotional, mental, physical, and financial stress on 50% of our work force who are also the mothers to the future of our country in their most vulnerable stage of life.
This stress also directly effects maternal and infant mortality rates in this country.
This is a direct cost that men in the workforce do not endure in the same way. Our experiences in this regard are not equal, yet we expect equal response.
So, it’s essentially a clever method for growing families to hit up folks for cash instead of gifts, while simultaneously shining a light on a real issue. I like it.
photo by Christoph Lehmann