I'm not a parent, at least not yet, but it's quite obvious that parenting is a lifetime job because it requires as much effort or even more effort than our jobs do. Especially for infants and toddlers who need to be well cared for. I think the major reason for maternity leave for the mother isn't just because the child is a toddler, but because she needs time to recuperate after the whole 9 months journey and labour. If I am right, it's been medically proven that labor pain especially at the point of delivery is equivalent to 7 bones fracturing at the same time. If this is correct, anyone who has even a bone fracture is entitled to a sick leave talkless someone who fractured seven.
It would be inhuman for a mother to resume work and be expected to deliver at 100% after undergoing one of the most natural yet excruciating pain scenarios the world has always known. She would need time out not just for the baby, but for herself as well. She would need all the love and support she can get for her mental health to heal. Then think about those mothers who had to birth their children through Cesarean section, these would need to heal from within and this process doesn't happen overnight. As for the baby who would need the mother more than anything is too fragile to bear any morning stress or busy work stress for a period of time and even when that period elapses the mother needs time to help the infant adjust to a work environment and might not resume work as she would if it were just her.
Men do not have to go through all these and even more, which is our God-given privilege, and for that, I see no reason why a man gets paternity leave to be with his family if he's not a soldier or an offshore worker. Why I would exclude these two categories because even the mother is fragile and needs all the support her husband can give her. I am a man and I know for sure the new process would require a whole lot of adjusting seeing that he would need time for his family, but I think the time he would be having with his family should not affect his job. This for me, is another part of family planning. If both parents sit at home with the baby who pays the bills then. The father being the strongest at that moment should find a way to balance the scales and step up a little more until the woman can go back fully to her normal activities.
This obviously doesn't happen overnight, that is why family planning doesn't begin in a day, the husband and wife who have decided to have a child should plan on how they would run the house best, and this is not unique to everyone as all fingers are not equal. Some fathers might go as far as changing their line of work and they are those who will only change how they spend their free time. In all, as long as both parents are doing their part for the welfare of the infant, then the family is good to go, but I still see no reason for paternity leave if the father is always around. I'm not a father yet, but this is just my opinion, maybe I would understand better and ask for paternity leave when I become a father š.
