Debates of all sorts discussion

This topic was suggested by Nina, and I thought it might be interesting so ...

What do you think? Should men get paternity leave? In case you don't understand the question ... women get time off from work if they give birth (maternity leave), so should their husbands also get time off to take care of the newborn child?

Yes. They wanted to have the child, so they should be allowed to help out. I've heard that handling a baby is hard, and even harder without the other parent to even out the work.

I agree. I think it's only fair to let the father stay home and help as well. Those first couple of weeks are pretty exhausting for both parents, and even more stressful if the father has to work. I think the mother needs a lot of rest, and she can't rest if she has to be alone with the baby by herself all day.

Yes but less, he can be their for the first few weeks (the hardest) but if I remember right women get a month or two of paternity (or more, can't remember) and well the man doesn't need to be their the whole time.

A month or two? I'm pretty sure it's only like three weeks. Although it depends on where you work ... Different places have different rules about it, I think.

Oh wow... This one teacher working for our school district got off for like two marking periods... and another at least one whole marking period... It seems to change... I don't really know for sure I was just goin based on those two because I could remember them.

It might be different for teachers. I'm not sure. It does seem that teachers tend to leave for an awfully long time once they near their due date. But I feel like, the times my mom was pregnant, she didn't get that much time off from her job. But it could just be that I'm remembering wrong.

Yeah.... I guess it really is a case by case thing...

It's probably because of gender roles. People think that the man should be working and providing for the family all the time, etc. But since women on maternity leave are still getting paid, I would assume it'd be the same for men if they got paternity leave. So even people who believe in gender roles, it's not much of an argument against it. It's not like the father wouldn't be making money.

I agree.

YES. This topic is awesome.

Men should get a paternity leave if they need it.

Thank Aleph, I'll try to remember that. Men should only get to leave for 2 month, and longer if his wife is ill or can't cope.

It depends on the circumstances. I guess because the first 2 months are the most stressful, it would be a bit cruel to dump the baby the his wife.

Why would a man need to have a long paternity leave? If nobody is working, who will get the money to actually support the baby.

Single fathers need to have a long paternity leave, of course. As I said before, it depends on the situation.

Thats true

I think paternity leave for men would be a good idea, but there would be some kinks. Usually the mother wouldn't want to go else where because of their, well, infatuation for their baby, but it would be nice to get a little extra help from dad.

If it's necassry to take care of your child then you should get some for of leave, regardless of gender.

I think they should. Imagine if they are gay and a surrogate helped them have a child. There are 2 men in a relationship and there is no woman involved. (yes, forget about the surrogate at this point)Then obviously, men need to be allowed to get a long paternity leave.