Paternity leave – diapers, bonding and being a good husband…..

Tips for Successful Co-parenting

If you don’t already know anecdotally, cursory Googling will show how working parents in the U.S. face a bleak picture for parental leave. While new mothers generally don’t get enough time off, new fathers get even less so, if any. When my son was born last year most of my family and friends had essentially identical reactions of pleasant surprise that I was being given time off. Paternity leave in the private sector for smaller businesses is quite rare. I enjoyed about 6 weeks away from the office to gel with my new family.

Staying at home those first weeks wasn’t only crucial for bonding with my son and getting used to a brand new routine. It was equally as important that I be there for my wife so she didn’t have to handle those challenges alone. My wife is a naturally amazing mother but even so it made a world of difference that she didn’t have to spend the majority of those first few weeks alone. Bonding and getting to know each other as new parents was as important as bonding with our son. Additionally, by the time we both had returned to work we were much better prepared for the work/life balance than had I not been given that valuable time off in those critical initial weeks.

By Randall Enlow,

Attorney and new father

 

STAY UP TO DATE

Subscribe to our newsletters

 
Subscribe to one or more of our newsletters, delivering meaningful insight on topics that matter to you and your family.
ebl home subscribe image

FURTHER READING

Latest Blog Posts

Learn from an experienced Seattle family law attorney what happens if the marital home is only in your spouse's name during divorce.

Washington family law usually encourages parents to work out differences between themselves without involving the judicial system. Child support modification is different. Informal side agreements, even written agreements, are unenforceable in family court. So, when circumstances change accordingly, as outlined…

Reducing one’s tax obligations is a significant factor in many financial decisions, including those you make as part of your estate planning. When you get far enough into the details of your estate plan, though, you may find that tax…

If you ask those who have survived domestic violence why they stayed in abusive situations as long as they did, it is often not because they did not realize that what was happening to them was abuse. People who have…

Learn from a Seattle family law attorney how to find the right collaborative divorce lawyer for your Washington state divorce.

Learn from an experienced Seattle divorce lawyer about the benefits of collaborative divorce over litigation.

A skilled and experienced Seattle family law attorney describes the differences between collaborative divorce and divorce mediation.

A Seattle estate planning attorney can help guide you about who to choose for key roles in your estate plan.

A prenuptial agreement, or a “prenup,” can help you and your future spouse decide how to handle certain financial issues in your lives before they cause conflict and hurt feelings. This is true even if you believe you would never…

A skilled and experienced Seattle family law attorney describes what happens when negotiations break down in a collaborative divorce.