Friday, August 14, 2009

DADDY TIME

METRO (Sweden) Thursday August 13, 2009:
ONE MILLION DADDIES EXTEND THEIR VACATION.

One must be Swedish to understand what this really means.
Americans who only have two weeks vacation might wonder why the Swedish five week vacations need to be extended.

It has to do with the generous parental leave rules.
When you have, or adopt a child, a couple can take up to 13 months off work, divided between them. Mothers use most of the days, but it is more and more common that men take time off work to be home with their children. But it seems that when August comes, and the vacation is used up, the fathers are more interested in using some of the time. This year it is a million daddies who do precisely that, use some of their parental leave time to enjoy summer.

The Economist has an interesting article on the subject of encouraging men to take more paternity leave. Click here!
Wikipedia explains parental leave. Click here!

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