guys, stop whinging
Go and study a bit of economic theory and you will realize that far from you 'subsidizing' those that have kids, the country as a whole benefits if there is good maternity / paternity provision. You may not think it, but you won't be able to retire unless another generation comes along, and many countries that have poor family economic policies (eg japan, italy) are in exactly that boat right now. Too many pensioners, not enough workers = big, big, big economic disaster. Maternity / paternity provision is not being made for altruistic reasons - you think gordon brown gives me tax breaks on my kids nursery fees for the hell of it!
Do a bit of googling and a bit of reading and you will find facts to back this up quite easily.
Paddington.
My wife and I are just financially coming out of the back end of having 2 kids - the 2nd one was 1 year old yesterday. My wife has a professional career, but had to take 2 six month bouts of statutory minimum maternity. Its painful and you can't make ends meet for 6 months, but bottom line is that its temporary. Have a good look at mortgage holidays and offset / flexible mortgages - worked for us!
And yes its worth it - should have seen the look on my boys face yesterday at his 1st birthday!
