I took a month of unpaid leave to look after my daughter for the summer holiday

I took a month of unpaid leave to look after my daughter for the summer holiday - here's whyImage source, Natalie HeptinstallImage caption, Mum Natalie thinks a shorter school summer holiday would help parents save moneyByGeorge SandemanPublished2 minutes agoLast summer, Natalie Heptinstall took a break from work and spent all of August with her eight-year-old daughter.It meant she could stay at home and enjoy the school summer holiday with her youngest child, something she hadn't been able to do with her two older kids.To take time off work, Heptinstall, 52, saved up some money and exercised her right to unpaid parental leave, external - which entitles parents to take up to 18 weeks' leave to look after their child's welfare up to their 18th birthday. Like many parents, Heptinstall and her husband previously managed with a combination of organised childcare and annual leave to look after their older kids, who have now grown up and left home."I always remember the guilt attached to that, feeling like I was sort of farming them off somewhere rather than spending time with them," says Heptinstall.'It's a juggling exercise'This month, parents across England have been gearing up for the start of the summer holiday, but Heptinstall believes it should be shorter - perhaps reduced from six weeks to four.For many parents, this would make it easier to fit summer childcare around their jobs - and the reduced break would mean moving the remaining two weeks to another point in the school year, outside of the peak tourist season. "It's always a bit of a juggling exercise," says Heptinstall, and others like her appear to agree.Of about 5,800 parents in the UK surveyed by the charity Parentkind last year, just over half (53%) said the school summer holiday should be shortened to four weeks.Experts say a shorter break would help children maintain a sense of structure that would make it easier to continue learning once the...