When you’re expecting or raising kids, being in Germany is fantastic.
Why?
In the Netherlands*, the conditions to become parents are pretty grim. My country hates kids. Mothers get four months of maternity leave, which includes the weeks before the baby is born. I guess the government thinks dads should not be involved in raising kids. I have no explanation for the embarrassingly low number of paternal leave days. A whopping five days. I have to add, I was lucky the year my son was born, because they had just increased that number from three days.
Here in Germany, moms get around a year leave, fathers get two months. They value families.
Rafa was born July 2019, near the end of my PhD**. We knew we would likely move to Germany, where I had applied for multiple jobs. This meant two things; I would have space for a long paternity leave, and my wife could have longer leave, which was her wish from the beginning. For our second child we will enjoy German parental standards.
It seems we did our family planning right!
Two months leave. What to do?
Germany, you should really never change your family support, it’s awesome!
——————————————————————————————————————* For reference, The Netherlands is my home country, where I have lived until November 2019, when me and my family moved to Germany.
** I submitted my dissertation two weeks before Rafa’s birth, and three months before the end of my PhD contract. I spent so much time with my family. A luxury that many Dutch families don’t get.
Robin Heinen 