Parents, children and campaigners have held protests calling for more support for mothers and fathers juggling work and family life, with one attendee saying helping parents to spend more time with their children is an “investment” in the country’s future.

The first ever Parent Strike saw campaigners attend protests around the UK on Thursday, with events in Edinburgh and Glasgow taking place alongside gatherings in cities including London, Cardiff and Belfast.

The campaign, which is organised by The Dad Shift and Mother Pukka, is calling for changes including flexible working by default and paternity leave set at six weeks for at least 90% of pay, as a UK Government review on parental leave nears its final stages.

Campaigners say change is necessary to make parenting sustainable in the modern world, when most parents are working full-time and still struggling financially.

Dozens of campaigners attended the event outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, where they listened to speeches and were led in song by maternal mental health choir the Singing Mamas.

Many carried placards with slogans such as “Two weeks isn’t enough”, “Let’s talk about flex baby” and “Real men care for their children”.

Millie Holroyd, who attended with her two young sons, said the statutory two weeks of paternity leave – which the partners of mothers are entitled to – is “not enough”.

She said: “This country is letting down parents, but also children and future generations to come, because we don’t have the provision to look after our children how we want to, and it’s not flexible enough for parents to make those decisions.

“I very much see this as investment in our country, and we can see that it works in other places across the world, and we’re just not doing it right in the UK or in Scotland.”

The 28-year-old nurse said as things stand, mothers or primary caregivers are expected to “do everything”, while fathers or second parents are expected to “go back to work and try and act normal when they’ve got a new baby”.

She said: “We’re asking all of that from somebody, and it’s no wonder that it’s breaking families apart.”

Ms Holroyd also pointed to the wider benefit of ensuring parents get the support they need to spend more time with their families.

“This will mean better investment in our children and our futures, and surely that is an economic boost rather than a drain,” she said.

“You too often get told, ‘Oh, you chose to have children’. Yes, but who’s running the country? Who’s working the country if nobody’s having kids?”

Stephen Lovejoy, 36, told the Press Association that when he became a father he felt “impossibly split” between supporting his wife and baby and trying to do his job – despite supplementing his statutory paternity leave with two weeks’ annual leave.

He said the birth of his daughter had been “very difficult” and his wife had had a “really hard time” as she struggled with the physical and psychological effects of the birth.

“I had to go back to work and my wife still wasn’t in a good place,” he said.

“Not only did I have the difficulty of leaving my daughter, who I was building that attachment with. I was having to go work and try and do my job, and at the same time worrying about how my wife was doing, knowing that she was in this difficult, dark place, worrying about how my daughter was doing.

“I would just get phone calls from her while I was at work, just saying she just needed me to be get back straight away – it got really, really serious.”

He said had he been able to take “a bit more time off”, things would have still been difficult – but he would have been able to give his wife and daughter the support they needed.

“This is something that is just an absolute no-brainer,” he said of the changes being called for.

“Having decent paternity leave and pay and flexible working rights just has so many benefits for families, for children.”

Minister for the future of work Kate Dearden said: “The first few weeks of being a parent can be both some of the most rewarding and challenging.

“We are determined to make sure dads and partners can be there to provide support as much as possible, especially in those crucial first few weeks and months when mums are often recovering from childbirth.

“That’s why we’ve already changed the law to give 32,000 more partners access to paternity leave, and are carrying out a full review of parental pay and leave to ensure we reflect the realities of modern work and childcare so that parents can spend as much time doing what matters most – caring for their baby.”