A pregnant woman is shocked by her partner’s deeply “selfish” financial demand while she was on maternity leave.
“He would like me to continue to contribute half towards the mortgage and bills while on maternity leave.”
After posting these words to an online parenting forum, a UK mother has sparked the anger of more than a hundred people.
Sharing her plight on Mumsnet, the woman asked if she was unreasonable in thinking her partner was being unfair for requesting she still contribute 50 per cent to pay the mortgage and bills while on maternity leave.
“To do so I will need to use a redundancy pay out that I was given during the first stages of pregnancy,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, her partner “earns a very high wage”.
The partner in question was branded a “selfish, penny-pinching bastard” by many of the women responding in the comments.
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Well then I'd be charging him by the hour for carrying the baby (did he pay half of all medical costs while pregnant? If not, backcharge those too) then invoice him for you providing childcare while he is at work. Oh, and don't forget to bill him for all of the cooking, cleaning etc... that you do. I think you'll find he changes his mind.
It's such a red flag. Not that each partner shouldn't generally be expected to pay their way generally, but what about the idea of supporting the person who is growing your child that you presumably want and will be responsible for? She needs to keep a very accurate cost-accounting of childcare and petrol and any associated costs and make sure he pays his half down the middle (not forgetting any VAT and taxes!). Take an average of whatever childcare costs in the area and charge him that per hour (or half, since she's responsible for 50%), and insist categorically that he shells out by the 1st of each month.