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Podcasts Take Two
Why paternity leave benefits the mother most
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Jan 2, 2014
Listen • 6:39
Why paternity leave benefits the mother most
Increasingly, men are embracing programs that let them spend six weeks or more with their newborns. Social scientists say that while it's good for the dad and the infant, it may be the mother who benefits the most.
BERLIN - AUGUST 31: Oliver Hunke, 42, a married federal employee on 6-month paternity leave, feeds his twin 14-month-old daughter Alma lunch at his home on August 31, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. Under German law married couples may take 14 months parent leave, to be divided between the two spouses, during which an individual receives two thirds of his or her normal income from the state, up to EUR 1,800 a month. In order to encourage more fathers to take paternity leave, German Family Minister Kristina Schroeder is seeking to lengthen parent leave from the current 14 months to 16 months, though German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble sees the measure as too expensive. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Oliver Hunke, 42, a married federal employee on 6-month paternity leave, feeds his twin 14-month-old daughter Alma lunch at his home on August 31, 2010.
(
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
)

Increasingly, men are embracing programs that let them spend six weeks or more with their newborns. Social scientists say that while it's good for the dad and the infant, it may be the mother who benefits the most.

What's the best thing you can do for your wife, who's just had a baby? Take a nice, long paternity leave.

Increasingly, men are embracing programs that let them spend six weeks or more with their newborns. Social scientists say that while it's good for the dad and the infant, it may be the mother who benefits the most.

Writer Liza Mundy details the case for paternity leave in an article published at Atlantic.com.