Here's What The Swedes Get Right About Parenting That Americans Don't

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-what-the-swedes-get-right-about-parenting-that-americans-dont-2013-11

***SNIP

In 1995, in what turned out to be a bureaucratic stroke of genius, the Swedish government created financial incentives for men to take paternity leave. If the father didn’t take time off, the family lost one month of subsidies. Suddenly it was like Who cares if they call me a “velvet dad”? I’m not giving up free money!

Soon it became the norm for dads to take off a month, two months, even longer. Men got a taste of what it was like to be the primary parent. They became more confident in their role at home, assuming those responsibilities traditionally left to the moms, such as clipping the children’s fingernails. Dads started craving more time with their kids. Today, eight in ten fathers in Sweden now take a third of the total thirteen months of leave.

Those early months are a critical time for establishing bonds. Studies show that when fathers spend time taking care of infants, they are more likely to become involved parents as their children get older.

As everyone got used to the idea that dads would take time off, the culture at work began to change, with flextime becoming more common. The pay gap between men and women started to close. One study showed a mother’s future earnings increased about 7 percent for every month the father took off.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-what-the-swedes-get-right-about-parenting-that-americans-dont-2013-11#ixzz2kXF8bfFe

[n2doc]

1. Oh those takers

Lazy, selfish takers, only thinking about their family and not the corporate bottom line! Could never allow that here in the USA! Good Heavens, they might even not support sending their kids off to die in wars for the Corporate Good!

[xchrom]

3. !

[MissMillie]

2. "The pay gap between men and women started to close."

I had suspected that this would be the case.

I also have no doubt that the "pro-family" crowd would be the same crowd to pan the idea of more paid time-off for Dads, on the grounds that it's anti-business.

[dickthegrouch]

4. FMLA allows for part of this to happen in the US

The Family Medical Leave Act has laid the framework for anyone to take time off to bond with a new child and return to their same job. Of course, the US version doesn't allow for any compensation while doing this since private companies can't be forced to do anything. If the family has planned sufficiently in advance, there's no reason bonding can't happen here.

I applaud those men who take advantage of it. Even more the companies that advertise the possibility to the new fathers in their midst.

[CFLDem]

5. We'll get there one day...

either through conversion or natural attrition of the angry mostly white puritanical masses.

[lumberjack_jeff]

6. +100 n/t