A survey found 70 percent or respondents thought the financial pressures of having a family, especially childcare, were becoming more difficult. Photo: Supplied/ NZ Human Rights Commission
New research shows a majority of New Zealanders believe the financial pressures of parenthood are getting worse.
And some parents said they were having fewer children than they wanted due to the costs.
Emma, who lived in Wellington, and had a four-month-old, said she and her husband decided to only have one child because they couldn't afford the child-care costs.
"We just decided we would rather have one kid that had a good life and everything he needed and not have a sibling.
"Although we both had siblings and we loved growing up like that, it would just be a lot tougher on him to be able to do the things he's going to want to do in life."
The public servant, whose husband works in recruitment, said they saved about $20,000 before becoming parents, but they were still struggling with mortgage payments of $1000 a week.
They expected to pay $400 a week for childcare when their son was six months old.
A Kiwibank survey of 1238 parents out today showed 70 percent thought the financial pressures of having a family, especially childcare, were becoming more difficult.
It's also found a third stopped short of applying for a promotion due to becoming a parent, and over half thought the career impacts of parenthood were worse for women.
Gerda Heyl, a teacher also based in the capital, had a four-year-old and a six-month-old.
She has just finished six months of paid parental leave which she said was about 40 percent of her income.
She said while she considered it, she could not afford to have more children.
"Anyone still needs to have some form of savings for the emergency that might happen in your life.
"We don't have any emergency cash. If something actually happened today - we are done."
Heyl said she and her husband, who was also a teacher, fell just outside the $180,000 combined wage bracket required for the new FamilyBoost childcare subsidy.
She said it was cheaper to pay $3200 to bring her mother over from South Africa to look after her daughter than to send her to kindergarten.
"It's going to cost me $4000 for the term. I haven't added nappies, I haven't added food, I haven't added activities, this is just schooling for my girl, I haven't started with schooling for my boy."
This month, Sweden passed a ground-breaking law allowing grandparents to take a share of paid parental leave.
Parents in that country are entitled to 240 days of parental leave each. If someone was a single parent, they were entitled to the missing parent's leave allowance too.
In New Zealand, there was 26 weeks of paid leave - which is combined for both parents or caregivers and was capped at $754.87 a week before tax.
For many people, the most a partner could take was two weeks unpaid leave.
Stephanie Pow, who created the New Zealand parental leave register, said New Zealand's minimum paid parental provisions were out of step with the current cost of living crisis.
"When we look at other developed countries, our paid primary carer leave, we are in the bottom quarter in terms of financial support we give new primary carers, who in New Zealand are largely mothers.
"When it comes to paid partner leave, we are at the bottom of the heap, we are one of three developed countries to have no paid partner's leave at all."
Pow said in Australia, the amount offered was similar to New Zealand, but more of the parental leave could be taken flexibly - it can be used in conjunction with going back to work a few days a week.
She said more and more employers were offering extra benefits for staff, but that more change was needed.
Kiwibank chief executive Steve Jurkovich said the results of the survey were stark.
"The really uncomfortable truth is that we probably don't value caregiving the same that we do in paid employment. So that comfort level around - that's just the way it is - has prevailed for too long."
The company said it provided more parental benefits for its staff, an extra six weeks' leave for both parents, reduced hours at full pay after returning to work for four weeks, and special leave for those undergoing fertility treatments, egg donation, or preparing for surrogacy.
