I agree . My children are young and I have worked a year after the first birth and 5 months after the second due to necessity. It has been very hard and many compromises have had to be made. We have had to subsidise the work part in order not to get locked out of the jobs market. Work from my experience isn't particularly considerate of parents with young children. Legislation helps but it's not robust enough and employers just get round it all by being devious. If you can afford not to have to work in the early years then don't. The children can still benefit from nursery , playground etc but overall it could be less stress for all concerned.