October 29th – Paternity Leave

Today’s news story, coming from CTV News, can be found here. This story touches on the subject of paternity leave.

Joe Rogan, who works for Spotify, posted a tweet bashing US Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, for taking six months of paternity leave to care for his newborn twins. Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palentir Technologies Inc., responded by calling any man “in an important position” who took six months of paternity leave “a loser”. He went on to say that “In the old days, men had babies and worked harder to provide for them…”

IN MY VIEW:

• Joe Rogan and Joe Lonsdale are in no position to judge anyone for how they use legitimate employment benefits or how they should prioritize their career and their family.
• Joe Lonsdale is in no position to decide if one’s ‘position’ is important or not. If you are employed, it is because what you do is important enough to warrant a position.
• “In the old days, men had babies and worked harder to provide for them…” In the ‘old days’ a lot of men worked at home – with their wives. (Ie Family farms, family businesses with living quarters). Even those who worked out of the home, did not face the commuting times that exist today or the amount of travel away from home that is part of employment nowadays.
• Many fathers today are far more hands on than they were years ago and many mothers are employed outside of the home. It makes sense for both parents to spend as much time as possible with their newborn.
• As wonderful as infants are, and parenting is in general, transitioning from being a couple to being a family is challenging. A challenge that has often ended in divorce court. If a few months of paternity leave helps to make this transition successful, it would be beneficial to the child, the parents, their community, and society in general.
• Work to live, do not live to work. Golden advice that becomes more obvious as life goes on.

That is it for today, folks! As always, feel free to comment below. You don’t have to agree with me to comment, but I will appreciate it if you keep it respectful.

Thanks care and have a great day! 💞