Paternity leave: Should daddy stay or should daddy go?


{source}

I was listening to Red.FM this morning, and they were talking about paternity leave.

It reminded me about why I think that maternity leave of 60 days in never enough, as I have explained about it at Makchic.com.

Anyway, we all always talk about maternity leave, but somehow we forgot about paternity leave. I think that it both should go hand in hand.

Truth is a new born child needs both mom and dad to be around during his early days. Mostly for a healthy bonding and for them to get to know each other, so to speak.

Needless to say that mom also needs dad's support physically and emotionally too, you know, some extra assistance around the house (confinement can be so unproductive) and extra hugs and support to let her know that she is not doing it alone. We all know how demanding the early days could be.

One caller came through (a dad) and spoke his mind about this issue. I really like the way he put it. It sounded something like this:
Paternity leave should be at least a month, or maybe as long as confinement days lasts. Taking care of a new born is demanding, and there are a lot of things to be settled by mom and dad. It is the mom's right to have the dad together with her, and it is also the dad's rights to be with mommy and baby. So besides longer maternity leaves, I think that paternity leaves should be fought for by the women NGOs too.

I kind of agree with him.

So what do you think?

Ideally, how long do you think paternity leave should be? Should it be shorter or longer than a month?

Comments

Yan Lim said…
I agree 100%. I mean, it is not only because we mummies need help at home. Or because babies need daddies around to bond. But to me, it is also to the advantage of the employers. My husband had to apply for 2 weeks leave to be with us at home. This means, his work got all delayed during these two weeks. This will not happen if there was a designated paternity leave (that is longer than 2 days). Similar to maternity leave, people at work already know and prepared that we will be away so handover was done and expectations were set.
Ayuni A. said…
Ah,that's another way to see it too. Good perspective especially to convince employers to adopt longer paternity leave.
pet9 said…
Hi. I listened to this guy's comment too and can't agree more! he just got a baby right? maternity leave should be 6 months and paternity 1 month/ 44 days!
Ayuni A. said…
Hi pet9! So true right. That would be the ideal length for me too. I don't think that it should be as long as 14 weeks, coz the company still needs their employee too.

Popular Posts