Where do dads fit in to Mum & You?

We quizzed M&Y’s founder, Rajiv, on the role of dads in today’s world of parenting:

“I’m a dad. Along with Natasha, I founded Mum & You to help children thrive. But why did a dad found a company and call it Mum & You? In the modern world today, dads are contributing to babies’ development as much as mums are. We do the nappy changes, we’re up in the night, we sing, play and make our babies laugh. Hopefully this is something we’ll see grow more and more.

As a team, we want to give kids a better future, and we believe there’s no better way to do this than helping their parents. We believe that once the parents are enabled to succeed, kids will be. They can then live healthy, live strong, and grow to reach their full potential. That’s all any parent wants.

What we see in UK society is that just under 90% of dads work full time after having a baby, whereas only a third of mums do. As much as 25% of mums give up work completely after having children and another 25% who do go back to work, return part time (data source ONS). There are numerous reasons for these figures, but what this data tells us is that in the majority of cases, mums are the primary carer of babies and young children. So, although dads are of great benefit in the development of their children, the data shows that enabling mums will help children thrive.

Even with the introduction of shared parental leave, 98% of leave requests are made by women. I’m sure these numbers will shift over time, as more and more companies alter their thinking to incorporate the flexible working methods we practice at M&Y, but until that happens, and we see more dads being the primary carer, we must reflect parenting trends.

At M&Y we’ve created a platform that enables women to work and feel supported by society. Many of the mums at M&Y had paused their careers for their kids, and we have given them the opportunity to return to work at a company built around their needs. Our employees work from home whenever they want to, work the hours that suit them, and do a brilliant job because they’re motivated and happy at work. It’s time other organisations join us.”

To see what else M&Y does to support mums on their career journeys, have a read of our blog, What does it mean to shop with M&Y?