We’re Outsourcing Parenting and Volunteering for Corporate Slavery
Have we as a society grossly misplaced our priorities?
A friend and ex-colleague recently had his first child. I remember the otherworldly feeling when I held our first child in my arms.
I’d only got a 2-week parental leave back then, but for that period, I was inseparable from my wife and our son.
Luckily, when our second was born last year, my former employer had started a full 20-week parental leave for both fathers and mothers.
I took every single day of the leave. Not only was I able to spend the first few months with the newborn, but was also able to support my wife’s post-partum recovery and bond as a family unit.
Given the option, I’d have it no other way.
I was naive enough to think it would be the same for everyone.
I was wrong.
My friend instead was of a very different opinion.
“My plan is simple,” he quipped.
“I’ll take a couple of weeks off and then resume work. I can’t be away from work for such a long time. Can’t let others take credit for picking up my work in my absence.”
