Last Day of my #paternity leave

Technically the final day pf my paternity leave was some time last week, but I&apso;ve taken holiday days to cover until this week as Dr K&apso;s mum is visiting us for two weeks from this weekend so thought that would tie in quite nicely. I can believe that this time with my son is nearly up. Two weeks is FAR too short, criminally so if you ask me, and I have heard that the Lib Dems have a manifesto pledge to up that to six weeks. I can see why &apso;the average man&apso; (or at least the average man of a bygon era) would only want to take a couple of weeks off work, if that, purely due to the sleeplessness of those early nights. But now men want to be involved in their children. Children are meant to be seen and be heard. I don&apso;t believe I am alone, even if I am a bit of a feminine brained male.
That&apso;s not to say I can&apso;t see why men would want to go back to work. I appreciate that the idea of an adult only world where the issues are (typically) not emotional based is a comfort for the masculine brained among us. Also the 9-5 nature of work is a simple framework which gives &apso;men&apso; a simple format for coping. Parental life is very much more ad hoc, coming and going with the wind and the whims of this little creature which obeys no one.
Parenting favours a feminine, multi-tasking brain, one that can flit between trying to make a cup of tea and then pick up a crying baby and then wash last nights dishes and then sweep the floor and then change a nappy before getting back to the tea to discover it&apso;s gone cold and you need to make a new one. This has happened many times, more than I can remember in the past three weeks. Kettles filled and heated then left to go cold (a shameful environmental crime). Coffee half made. Cake half eaten. But I&apso;ve really enjoyed this, just getting on and doing some jobs, whatever and whenever to cope. It&apso;s been a real challenge but a lot of fun too. Work won&apso;t be quite the same even if I am looking forward to seeing my colleagues and getting my future products into realisation.
2015-05-01