As a parent, I would much rather take that year and use it to shorten my normal working week for as long as possible.
With 260 working days a year, you could work 4 days a week for the first five years of your child's life.
With 260 working days a year, you could work 4 days a week for the first five years of your child's life.
Watching a baby is a full time job.
As a parent, I'm pretty sure the GP was imagining how nice it would be to have that extra day a week to spend time with their kid, or simply run errands, as the weekends are taken up with kid activities.