00:00That fathers should be there with their children as they're born,
00:05and more particularly in the formative months and years afterwards,
00:09but particularly in the post-birth period, it's accepted.
00:14It's a really important part of the child's first days in this world,
00:19but also to assist the mother.
00:21Again, I'm looking at a very traditional family unit,
00:25but men are involved very little, which of course was the tradition,
00:31certainly in my father's generation.
00:33That's now being debunked.
00:35This is really important.
00:37The fact that employers should give time off for this is also really important,
00:42but of course we know that there are always costs to this.
00:45Therefore, of course, the costs come on the employer.
00:48In the current climate, it's very difficult for employers
00:52who are having to make ends meet.
00:54So I can sort of see tensions may sort of arrive on this,
00:57or sort of become sort of problematic in terms of the affordability.
01:02But nonetheless, the more we can do to involve fathers in sort of childhood, the better.
01:07The government has announced what it calls a landmark review of parental leave and pay,
01:12aiming to modernise the support offered to families after the birth or adoption of a child.
01:19Ministers say the system, which covers maternity, paternity and shared parental leave,
01:24has not kept pace with modern working life or changing shape of families.
01:29Campaigners have long argued that the current statutory leave is amongst the least generous in Europe,
01:35and difficult for many parents to access, especially those who are self-employed or on lower incomes.
01:42With eight different types of leave and pay available,
01:45the system has been criticised for being confusing and outdated.
01:50Over the years, society has seen a real shift in attitudes around work, parenting and family life.
01:57Well, the sort of the stereotypical man of the sort of the post-war period, which of course is, you know,
02:02that's the sort of the year of my dad's generation.
02:05Yeah, that it was very much the sort of, you know, carry on regardless.
02:08Yeah, obviously they were involved in the sort of the conception.
02:11And beyond that, of course, you know, they didn't get involved in sort of things like sort of nappy changing and feeding and whatever else.
02:17You know, I can sort of say without sort of fear of sort of being sort of found out on this one.
02:22Yeah, I was involved in that. And for sure, it's a sort of difficult period.
02:26And of course, you know, it's very sort of stressful in many ways.
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