I took 12 weeks of paternity leave after my wife went back to work, and definitely recommend it if you can swing it. Partly just that spending time with a kid s

I took 12 weeks of paternity leave after my wife went back to work, and definitely recommend it if you can swing it. Partly just that spending time with a kid small enough to nap inside your hoodie is worth doing -- but honestly I'm not cut out to be a stay-at-home parent and that's not why I'm a fan of paternity leave. More that it helped so much with setting us up for parenting together. One reason is that it's hard to understand just how much work it is if you haven't done it on your own for long stretches, and it helps for both partners to know that both partners know how hard it is and have taken a turn at it. Another is the self-reinforcing competence thing -- if one partner always packs for going out, say, then the other partner is likely to take longer and do a worse job when they try packing, so it's easier for everyone if they don't, and you end up thinking only one person is good at parenting. To some extent it's fine to specialize, but having to do everything during the day on my own for a few months made it really clear that both of us can be good at any given thing if need be. One thing I was surprised by (but shouldn't have been) is just how much wealth you're showing off by taking paternity leave. Telling people you're taking 12 weeks of paternity leave in America is basically telling them you have plenty of money and a job you can afford to walk away from, which pretty much crosses the line into boasting about things you shouldn't boast about. I ended up playing it down more than I expected, which kind of sucks, since it's an awesome thing that more folks should be able to do.