5 Reasons You Should Take a Parental Leave Trip
Disclaimer: Travel is a privilege! And in the United States, having paid maternity leave (or any sort of significant time off work) is a privilege as well. To advocate for better leave, check out #ShowUsYourLeave and take action by contacting your representatives through the good folks at Paid Leave For All.
First and foremost - you may be asking, “what is a parental leave trip?” Well, you know how it’s become very popular to take a vacation before your baby arrives (aka a babymoon?) Well, a parental leave trip is a trip taken after the baby comes, generally while the birthing partner is on parental leave. Other names I’ve called it is a “bonding moon,” “maternity moon” or “BB getaway.” (IDK, I wasn’t the most clever when I was getting 3 hours of sleep a night. LMK if you come up with a better name!)
Josh and I were lucky because I got some paid leave after Lil’ Nugg was born and my pregnancy had relatively few complications. Even though I had a c-section, my recovery was fairly quick and Lil’ Nugg was a healthy baby. We recognized that we would probably never get this much time away from work and we wanted to be intentional about making memories and bonding with our baby and so we thought, “What better way to bond and make memories than to take a month-long trip to the other side of the world?” And so, I give you 5 reasons why we made this decision:
You’re going to be sleep deprived anyway. Might as well be sleep deprived in a different, cool location!
Newborn babies are actually easier to travel with. I say this as the mama of a now 1 year old who wants to run and explore and kick and talk and… the list goes on. When he was 3 months old, he ate, pooped, and slept. And sometimes smiled. :) When they’re little little, you don’t need to worry about solid nap times because they don’t have them yet! You can strap them in the baby carrier and they can nap on the go.
It’s good practice! If you want to raise a kid to be adventurous, why not start now? And as they learn all about adventure, you’ll be be learning too. You’ll start learning what it takes to travel with a kid (note: flexibility is key here)!
Your life shouldn’t change just because you had a kid. Now of course, there are parts of your life that will change because you had a kid. But it doesn’t mean you should give up doing things you love just because you have a child now.
Last but not least: the memories. Sure, your lil one may not remember it, but YOU WILL. And it gives you a great excuse to also go back again and visit when you’re older.
So what do you think? Would you take a parental leave trip? Where would you go and why?
xo,
Leesh
