Maternity Leave for Men

Should men get paternity leave from work?

I think it is perfectly natural for a man to get maternity leave for the birth and a proper amount of time after. After all the hard work the woman put into bringing that child into the world, the man should be there to make things easy for her and show his appreciation for all she has done and will do. I also think it is a great benefit in the bonding of father and child early on.

 

Haha, my first reaction was like "why does this need discussing? it's already a legal choice" but then I remembered that our laws might differ from yours.
We have the option here in Sweden,and we've had it for quite a while now. I think it's great! My brother had paternity leave from work a few months after their baby was born, it was a much needed break for his girlfriend, and he loved being able to be close to his son during this early stage of his upbringing. There were no downsides whatsoever. =)

 

I agree that men should be allowed paternity leave...it really does allow them to bond with the child better and it gives the mother a well deserved break. However, at least in the US, maternity and paternity leave both need to be a whole lot longer than they currently are.

 

I agree with you. Even though the guy didn't physically give birth to them, they should still be able to take time off to care for the baby just as the mom is able to. But I also thing the bigger discussion should be about the length of time people get off for maternity leave. Is it six weeks currently?

 

I think it's around 6 weeks, certainly no more than 8 weeks. It's ridiculous, particularly for mom's who had/have a hard time.

 

Yea my bf's brother just had a kid and they had to take their leaves at different times so that it ended up lasting longer. So she took hers first of course and then when her six weeks was up he took his. It just doesn't seem like long enough at all.

 

Yea, that's exactly what my boss did. And I agree, it really isn't long enough. I'm pretty sure that throughout much of Europe and the rest of the world, maternity leave, at least, is anywhere from 14 to 28 weeks. It is better for the mom's mental health and probably both's parents bond with the family to have more time.

 

yikes, it's 15 weeks in Canada. that's appalling.
and yes, I am a very strong supporter of paternity leave. I wouldn't be able to go to work thinking about how my hypothetical wife who had just gone through all of that work giving birth was now dealing with the child alone. at the least I would want to take care of the child while she was at work

 

Sure if the guy is actually going to help and not use the time to sit on his ass and watch sports like he is on freaking holidays lol