Planning Your Return to Work (or Not): The End-of-Leave Decision Guide
15 min readLast updated June 2026Beginner levelOfficial-source checked
There is a strange moment near the end of parental leave when the calendar starts making eye contact. The baby is bigger now, maybe crawling, maybe still waking at night with the emotional range of a storm siren. Then the questions arrive: Can we afford childcare? Do we even have a spot? Will my job still feel like mine? What if returning feels like losing something — and not returning feels like losing myself? This is the practical end-of-leave guide to deciding when, whether, and how to go back.
There is a strange moment near the end of parental leave when the calendar starts making eye contact. The baby is bigger now, maybe crawling, maybe still waking at night with the emotional range of a storm siren. Then the questions arrive: Can we afford childcare? Do we even have a spot? Will my job still feel like mine? What if returning feels like losing something — and not returning feels like losing myself? This is the practical end-of-leave guide to deciding when, whether, and how to go back.
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