Photography by Roy Son
“The time you spend with your babies after birth is crucial for all families,” says Margi Scott, founder of Take12. “It should not be a luxury.” The Minnesotan and mother of four intimately understands the financial and emotional burdens that often come with maternity leave. “We see more women go back to work before they are physically, mentally and emotionally ready to do so, simply because their families cannot afford for them to remain unemployed for three months,” she notes. “A quarter of women return to work within 10 days of giving birth — this speed can result in a spike in postpartum depression and health issues for both mother and baby.”
After her own experiences with maternity leave, Scott realized that what she truly craved was not gifts off a registry but the ability to spend time with her newborn children. She set out to empower other parents to ask for just that via a digital platform. Today, expectant mothers can sign up with Take12 to create a registry of time increments to utilize during maternity leave. Friends and family can gift snuggle time, nap time and other special moments for mother and baby to share. With substantial privacy settings as well as access to groups for mentoring and networking, the website provides an opportunity for parents to personally and tastefully ask for the hottest of commodities: time with their children.
Read this article as it appears in the magazine.
