Mum’s on the benefit...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10708125&ref=twitter

Everyone is different, and I know not all of those on the benefit will have the same attitude as the woman in this article. I'm just really quite angry that this woman sees no issue with living off other peoples tax dollars, simply to suit her lifestyle and choices.

I have always been taught that the benefit is not a choice, it's a last resort.

It would be great if we could all stay at home with our kids, but the reality is that many mums have to go back to work. Their kids don't get any less love, or structure, because of that.

Edited by astral_monkey

Hmm, I'm a benefit mum (student allowance and hardship) but gee... I had over $7000 worth of savings and have nothing really to show because ... Having a baby is darn expensive! I used as much of my own money as I could before I decided to go on the benefit. I get the whole wanting to stay home thing but to me, I am doing everything I can to get OFF the benefit because imo it is for a last resort not a lifestyle choice. I am studying so that when I do/can work I am able to get a good paying job. But I worked hard to save that money and payed my taxes. (Not saying she didn't.)

I agree with the absent parenting but that is more parents simply not really parenting at all/caring about their kids rather than working!

I went and signed up for DPB yesterday and honestly i feel like scum for doing it. I have a job, i'm on maternity leave, but due to my physical job and a few pregnancy concerns i started my paid leave at 29 weeks so am due back to work on March 03 - my son will be 4 weeks old. I live at Mt Cook where there is NO child care, and i am a single parent. Its not possible for me to return...yet. But i DO intend to be part time by the time he is 4months and full time by the time he is 6 months. So its a temporary fix for me and i've been working and paying taxes for years now but still feel like i'm ripping everyone else off.

Ideally i would love to be a stay at home mom, i don't want to miss out on anything but that 'luxury' IMHO is for people who can do it without benefits. I'm not sure that everyone else should pay for my relationship breakdown (since, if it had survived he would work and i would SAH).

There was a similar article in the press on the weekend about people struggling to survive on unemployment that gave as an example a man who had to pay rent, loan repayments, bills and then after he'd brought $40 of smokes and $60 of beer he only had $20 to buy food. Right, so don't buy the beer and smokes? I get addiction (as an ex smoker) but surely if its so hard to survive on that $20 a week then give them up?

Thanks guys, I had to rewrite my post a bunch of times because I was afraid people would take me the wrong way.

The benefit is there for a reason, it's the people that take advantage of it that really piss me off. Particularly as there would be more $'s to help those who really need it if there weren't so many pure bludgers out there.

Bowie, I feel for you. It can't be easy being in the situation your in. Please don't feel guilty, just concentrate on taking care of you, and your wee one.

Good point busy mum. My mum had to return to work as a single mum to survive as DPB wasn't enough BUT at 3 I wasn't ready for kindy but was lucky to have a close relative who I had been around a lot that was able to look after me.

If you have substantial savings then they put you on a stand down period so say you get made redundant - I think they divide your money up to how many weeks of Benefit pay it would be and that's how long you have to wait until first payment or something. Remember my mum looking into it last year when she got made redundant.