A father's childcare experience (three days)

Short childcare leave

The term ‘childcare leave’ conjures up the image of a long period away from work, typically a year. However, it's possible to take short periods of childcare leave lasting a few days to a week. (Though we may still be far from achieving true gender equality.) Here, I won't delve into my thoughts about men's involvement in childcare. Rather, I want to share the practicalities of how I took leave and childcare leave.

We now have two children. My wife has full-time work and I have a commute of about an hour and a half each way. Support from the two sides of our family is limited, so my wife plans to take a full year of childcare leave following the arrival of our second child. With little support from the family and considering the financial strain of having a newborn, I opted for a three-day period of short childcare leave.

NIMS offers various types of special childcare leave. By combining these with annual leave and regular childcare leave, one can take quite an extended break. For the first two weeks after childbirth, I stayed at home, handling household chores and childcare (including caring for the older child). We decided that for the following month I would do the household chores and also take our older child to and from daycare.

In my case, this overlapped with the summer vacation period, so I took three days of summer vacation, two days of accompanying leave, five days of caregiving leave, and three days of childcare leave, along with my annual leave, to assist with household chores and childcare for almost a month. (Though this is hardly enough to realize a truly equal society, given the burden my wife carried during this time.)

Applications for childcare leave must generally be submitted a month in advance. In my case, I wanted to take leave during the first two weeks after my wife gave birth, so I submitted my application a month before the due date. However, the birth was late, so I had to submit a change request after my baby was born. (It's important to discuss these matters with the HR representative in advance.) Also, it's essential to consult with your supervisor and team members beforehand.

During childcare leave, no salary or allowances are paid. Instead, you receive 40% of your basic salary from employment insurance, with an additional 10% six months later. As for annual bonuses, these are not reduced if the leave period is 30 days or less.