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Comment by jowdones | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, the devil is in the details. I have a workmate that surprised me saying he's taking a year off paternity leave, getting a monthly paycheck from the state.

The catch ... his wife is working from home. So in fact she is doing all the hard work child care. He... essentially took a paid-off sabbatical B-)

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If she's working from home, why do you think she's doing all the child care? You think he's just sitting around while she both works and cares for the child?

That's what I imagine. Wife cooking and cradling the baby with one hand while the other types on the computer. Husband in armchair smoking a pipe while reading newspaper.

Why? Has your workmate said anything about sitting in an armchair smoking a pipe while reading a newspaper? Have you observed him doing that?

If your workmate is taking a year of paternity leave and his wife is working from home, my assumption is that he'd be the primary caregiver for diapers, holding the baby, putting him down for naps, cleaning up around the house, and his wife would be nursing the baby and possibly sleeping with it (which is basically a full-time job itself in the newborn phase). That was roughly how we divided responsibilities when I was on paternity leave.

Well, doing all those chores would kinda make him... a loser.

I'm very impressed if she was able to take care of an infant alone while working from home. Our family and friends assumed we would be doing that, but the reality was that the baby needed constant attention and so did work!

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