Why more MEN should take Paternity Leave

I’m working on a $1.6 Billion project and one of the guys on the architectural team is taking 2 months maternity leave and just this past week a sales guy and his manager were on site and somehow kids came up in the conversation. The sales guy was talking about taking paternity leave and the manager chimed in and said yeah twice in two years. The sales guy told me he had two kids under 18 months. Two boys, like me. He said it would have been hard for him to take more than a month off.

Then later reflecting on the discussion it dawned on me that when my boys were born their father had the opportunity to take leave, but explain that his job was too important and he couldn’t. The message that sent to me was that I should not take that time off either if I felt my job was important. If I voiced that he would have told me it was different for a mother. THAT MY FRIENDS is the problem.

The more men who take paternity leave, the more it is not such a big deal to hire a woman who might go have a kid and take time off.   So, on this day after Mothers Day, I want to celebrate you MEN for taking PATERNITY leave because, in a really special way it supports ALL of the people who want to take time off after the birth or adoption of a child because it normalizes that gap in work and that your team needs to support you in your absence while you support something more important than your job.

To all you Moms and mom figures out there- Happy Day after Mothers Day.