Have you taken a paternity leave? What is the longest paternity leave you can take?
Hello!
I am a Japanese blogger “Komo“.
This time, I decided to take “paternity leave”, so I would like to write about it.
I am 31 years old and have two daughters, aged 4 and 3.
And we are expecting another baby in August.
When my third child is born, I plan to take childcare leave by then.
In this article, I would like to write about the reasons why I’ll take childcare leave, and share with you how people in my office reacted when I told them that I’ll be taking paternity leave.
I am aware that this is uncommon, so if you are planning to do the same thing, you may refer to this article.
Please take time to read until the end.
How do Japanese Paternity leave system work?
First, let me explain about paternity leave.
There are various detailed systems, but generally speaking, we can take childcare leave until the child is one year old.
However due to an insufficient number of nursery schools where no available slots for new babies, it is quite difficult to send the baby to the nursery school in the middle of term, so in most cases parents can send them to the following academic school year after the child was born.
Of course, there is no need to take such a long leave, and there is a system that allows you to take short breaks.
Most people take short breaks.
By the way, we don’t get paid.
We don’t get paid by the company, but we get money as a childcare leave benefit from the government.
The government provides the amount equivalent to 67% of your salary until six months, then 50% thereafter.
However, since various taxes are not imposed, it seems that it is about 90% up to 180 days and about 80% after that.
So, I was worried about money, but I wonder if I can manage somehow.
By the way, there is an upper limit for childcare leave benefits, and bonuses are not considered, so be careful.
For more information, I suggest you look it up yourself on YouTube.
What made me want to take paternity leave
I forgot the title, but I was reading a book and thought, “Oh, let’s take childcare leave.”
In that book, it was written that modern people are too bound by time.
When I tried to replace myself, I thought it was morning time.
When I take my children to nursery school, I realize that I rush them quite a bit.
If you have children, you will understand that children are very free.
When they’re ready for nursery school and I say, “Let’s go,” they say, “I want to draw.”
At that time, “Hey, I’m going to be late, so hurry up! Let’s go!!!”
I’m yelling and pulling their arm.
However, I thought that this is really depriving children of their freedom.
I don’t want my child to think, “I have to do it quickly because my dad will get angry with me.”
Yet I do that every day.
Life is really not fun when you say, “I have to do XX (this or that) because I’ll get scolded.”
Moreover, I thought that if they continued such a habit from the age of 3 or 4, it would become ingrained in their heart.
So at least, I wanted to raise my children as long as I could, without being bound by time.
This is the reason why I decided to take a long-term paternity leave.
The reaction of people around me when I said I wanted to take paternity leave
Well, what was the reaction of the people around me when I said I wanted to take paternity leave.
The first person I talked to was my wife (that’s right).
My wife’s reaction when I said I wanted to take paternity leave
My wife said to me, “Do as you please.”
I think she had a lot of things to think about.
First of all, taking childcare leave makes it easier for us to raise our children.
My two older daughters go to nursery school.
So, while taking care of the newborn, we have to take our two older daughters to and from nursery school.
Because of my work, I often come home late at night and often go on business trips.
In that case, she will have to pick up and drop off them from the nursery school while holding the newborn.
By taking childcare leave, it will be much easier for us to raise our children.
While there are such positive aspects, the real problem is the problem of money.
Although there is support from the government, there is no doubt that it will decrease.
I think there was a lot of conflict here.
Think things through and do what I want. I wonder if she said that.
Coworker’s reactions when I said I wanted to take paternity leave
First, I should talk to my boss about this.
So, the morning after I made up my mind, I sent an email to my boss.
I told him, “I have something important to talk about, so I don’t mind if you meet me in person or call me, so please give me some time.”
We ended up talking on the phone later that evening.
My boss reacted by saying, “Isn’t working hours shorter?”
However, I thought, “It’s absolutely useless if it’s short.”
Judging from my personality, I will definitely be half-hearted.
I’m so clumsy that I really hate it.
If work piles up anyway, I wake up early in the morning and work, and I work overtime.
After all, I thought that there was no change in my life bound by time,
In the first discussion, it ended in the form of “on hold for now.”
Ah, I thought I would be persuaded.
In the end, my boss also did a lot of research and agreed to take long-term childcare leave.
However, it was clear that there were many things to think about.
My boss is 55 years old.
It’s a generation that has worked hard.
It was a reaction that not only my boss, but also the older generation would not think so well.
They don’t say it directly.
However, the reaction of the same generation and the generation below was really good.
They honestly agreed.
If I take paternity leave, it will be easier for other people to take it in the future.
In fact, this is the first time I’ve ever heard a man take paternity leave for such a long time in my company.
The longest paternity leave for men so far has been three months.
But this time, I will take it for more than a year, and it will grow all at once (laughs).
I would be happy if my male paternity leave makes it easier for other people to take paternity leave.
By the way, the customer’s reaction is mostly astonishment and laughter.
There were many cases where people clapped their hands and laughed, saying, “As expected of a major company.”
I thought that male paternity leave was not so popular in general.
lastly
This time, I wrote about “male childcare leave”.
During this period, of course, while raising my children, there are many things I want to do.
I want to challenge myself for qualifications, and I also want to travel abroad.
Also, there are many other things I want to try, such as this.
I’ve been working for about 10 years (and at the same company all the time), but I’m thinking of taking a break.
It’s a new start for a new challenge.
I would like to do my best in various ways.
I hope that this article will be of some help to you.
If you would like to read other articles, please click on this link and read the articles.
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