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Alexi Neal's avatar

There are so many social and environmental contexts to the hunter gatherer model and why it worked that are missing here. I can tell you from experience that working any amount with two kids under 5 at home is not this idillic balance that you claim. It is high stress, and severely compromising for mental health and overall well-being. Despite some of the painful realities of having my little ones in care, it is far preferable to attempting to work from home with them- even with a part time job that is extremely flexible and family friendly. You still have to do the work at some point, and unless there are other people around (like there would have in hunter-gatherer communities), finding that time will come at the cost of engagement with your child (parking them in front of the TV), sleep (working while they're sleeping) or sanity (attempting to work with constant distractions).

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Papa A's avatar

I met my husband while living in Denmark (he’s Danish), but we live in the US. Denmark and Sweden have similar systems, and parents get a shared paid 56 weeks off. I see a major advantage to the Danish long parental leave compared to the US: mothers consider themselves still working while on maternity leave (as opposed to unemployed), and there are no gaps in their resumes. It’s much easier to return to the job market because they, on paper, never left. In Denmark, you can also get sick leave from maternity leave, so it can get extended. A growing number of employers are also allowing employees to ramp back on slowly say, working only on Tuesdays or only half days to extend their maternity leave. I think this is the best path forwards. It’s not so different from what you are saying, except in how they conceptualize their work status.

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