Maternity/Paternity Leave

Quote: gamerfreak

Pete Buttigeig recently took paternity leave and conservative pundits are losing their mind.

I don't have a problem with paternity leave but I am not sure that we should mandate anything more than use of FEMLA or paid leave for it. What works for one company may break another, since they all don't work on the same margins.

The issue with a cabinet member taking paternity leave is that the rule of thumb is that you can delegate authority but you cannot delegate responsibility. That means that, in spite of his status of being on leave, he is still responsible for everything that happens or fails to happen on his watch. the Captain of a ship gets relieved when a ship runs aground even though he was asleep in his cabin and had no idea they were going to get into trouble based on the info at hand when he hit the rack...because he is ultimately responsible.

If the transportation department been on top of things and working hard to solve the crisis they should have seen building at the ports and in other areas, few people would have cared little about his absence. You can't take a high profile job and simply abandon it when you have a child. There are examples of this out there already with maternity leave...they either worked on or put others in charger and held them accountable. In other words, they kept an eye on the shop even while on paternity leave.

Perhaps he tried to do that, but the evidence shows he did not do it well.

Take paternity leave. Enjoy it. Make sure the job gets done.

Quote: RonC

I don't have a problem with paternity leave but I am not sure that we should mandate anything more than use of FEMLA or paid leave for it. What works for one company may break another, since they all don't work on the same margins.

The issue with a cabinet member taking paternity leave is that the rule of thumb is that you can delegate authority but you cannot delegate responsibility. That means that, in spite of his status of being on leave, he is still responsible for everything that happens or fails to happen on his watch. the Captain of a ship gets relieved when a ship runs aground even though he was asleep in his cabin and had no idea they were going to get into trouble based on the info at hand when he hit the rack...because he is ultimately responsible.

If the transportation department been on top of things and working hard to solve the crisis they should have seen building at the ports and in other areas, few people would have cared little about his absence. You can't take a high profile job and simply abandon it when you have a child. There are examples of this out there already with maternity leave...they either worked on or put others in charger and held them accountable. In other words, they kept an eye on the shop even while on paternity leave.

Perhaps he tried to do that, but the evidence shows he did not do it well.

Take paternity leave. Enjoy it. Make sure the job gets done.

Paternity leave is a silly concept. A man needs to be working to support his family, not hanging around at home just because the wife had a kid.

I try to explain it to the "you can have it all" feminist crowd. You can be a parent who spends lots of time with family or you can have a high-power job. You cannot have both. A man cannot serve two masters. He will respect one and resent the other. As true now as when it was said 2000 years ago.

Quote: AZDuffman

Paternity leave is a silly concept. A man needs to be working to support his family, not hanging around at home just because the wife had a kid.

I try to explain it to the "you can have it all" feminist crowd. You can be a parent who spends lots of time with family or you can have a high-power job. You cannot have both. A man cannot serve two masters. He will respect one and resent the other. As true now as when it was said 2000 years ago.

Work is a cop-out weak and pathetic men use to get out of paternal responsibility.

Quote: gamerfreak

Work is a cop-out weak and pathetic men use to get out of paternal responsibility.

Where I come from putting food in the fridge is among the most important parental responsibility.

Quote: AZDuffman

Where I come from putting food in the fridge is among the most important parental responsibility.

Which is entirely possible without abandoning your family completely.

Is paternity leave still silly if the woman earns more than the man?

Quote: gamerfreak

Which is entirely possible without abandoning your family completely.

Is paternity leave still silly if the woman earns more than the man?

Who says working all day is "abandoning" your family? Point is you cannot just take weeks or months off because your wife had a kid. You have to get to work to provide.

It is rare a woman will marry a man who earns less than she does. And it is silly that his employer is paying him to stay home taking care of a new kid. Maternity leave is about physical recovery. No such thing for a guy.

Quote: AZDuffman

Who says working all day is "abandoning" your family? Point is you cannot just take weeks or months off because your wife had a kid. You have to get to work to provide.

It is rare a woman will marry a man who earns less than she does. And it is silly that his employer is paying him to stay home taking care of a new kid. Maternity leave is about physical recovery. No such thing for a guy.

I just got married, my wife earns significantly more than I do.

Paternity leave is to help the mother recover and bond with the child. It is absolutely a should be considered necessity.

Work should not be fetishized. It is a means to an end. Family should always come before work, it’s not even a question.

Traditional conservatives who still care about family values are on board with paternity leave.

Quote:

Maternity leave is about physical recovery. No such thing for a guy.

Plenty of women went back to work within a day or two when there's no complications. So, it's more about bonding and early infant care. But it would also cover cases where health became longer term issue.

While plenty of parents stick older kids (toddlers) in day care, sticking a newborn baby, probably breast milk baby, in an environment where it's probably going to be ignored too much of the time is atrocious. Supposedly you can get permanent effects on the brain development with neglect. An infant probably perceives 5 minutes like an hour of boredom. Of course they sleep a lot. But sometimes they don't seem to sleep at all.

Quote: gamerfreak

Work is a cop-out weak and pathetic men use to get out of paternal responsibility.

I want to say my ex-wife and kids preferred the house we lived in at the time compared to public housing, but they never lived in public housing, so I could be wrong.