What Can Men Do With Six Months of Paternity Leave? Everything That Matters.

Brian Page
May 21
3 min read

I was angered by the headline above. Not just because it’s dismissive. But because I didn’t get paternity leave. And I would have given anything for it.

The idea that dads have nothing to offer during those early months is not just outdated—it’s toxic.

Here’s what men can do with six months of paternity leave:

🧠 Support Your Wife’s Physical and Mental Recovery

Giving birth is a major medical event. The recovery is intense.

Men can be there every day to cook her meals, manage medications, comfort her through sleepless nights, and create a healing environment where she feels supported and seen.

👶 Care for Your Child Around the Clock

Babies don’t only need feeding. They need diaper changes, baths, swaddles, skin-to-skin time, bouncing, singing, middle-of-the-night pacing, and the calm of a warm chest to sleep on. Men can learn it all and take on their share with pride.

Bonding with your child shouldn't be a bonus; it should be essential.

Early involvement builds lifelong emotional connection, confidence in caregiving, and better outcomes for kids.

🧺 Take Over the Domestic Load

Laundry, meals, dishes, errands, and everything in between; men can establish systems so it doesn't all fall on their partners. That includes splitting mental load tasks like scheduling pediatrician appointments, tracking feeding logs, managing family visitors, and researching developmental milestones.

🧩 Build Domestic Systems for the Long Run

With six months at home, men can help build a foundation for their families:

Set up a shared calendar
Planned chore rotations
Created routines for sleep, feeding, and housework
Learned how to co-parent instead of defaulting to “helping out”

Men can use that time to ensure their partners don't become the "project manager" and the domestic safety net of the family by default.

🧳 Ensure Her Career Ambitions Aren't Sacrificed

As I learned from Dr. Goldin's Nobel Prize-winning work, 80% of the gender pay gap is the motherhood penalty. So men can use paternity leave to ensure mothers have opportunities to access and maintain thriving careers.

Click here to use our free family financial planning calculator to estimate the cost of various caregiving options.

🤝 Respect Your Partner’s Identity Outside Motherhood

Six months of leave would allow men to protect space for her.

Time to rest.

To heal.

To read.

To call a friend.

To be a whole person, not just a caregiver.

Men can use their presence not just to lighten the load, but to actively support her personhood.

🧠 Learn, Adjust, and Grow

Paternity leave isn’t a vacation. It’s the time men need to become fathers.

To learn how to soothe, how to swaddle, how to support, and how to adapt. Men would figure it out—not after work, not on weekends, but through full immersion. That’s how real change happens.

Bottom Line: Paternity Leave Isn’t Just About Equality—It’s About Family

When fathers are involved early, kids thrive. Mothers recover better. Partnerships are stronger. And men become more empathetic, confident, and connected.

I didn’t have six months. But if I had? I would have used every second of it to become the father and husband my family deserved from day one.

Paternity leave isn’t a luxury. It’s an investment in families. Let’s stop treating it like a punchline.

Support for Your Future

I support couples who want to better manage money or the home as a team in their relationship.

I'm the only Accredited Financial Counselor® and Fair Play Facilitator®, empowering high-achieving couples with systems to manage money and the home as a team — drawn from decades of national leadership and lived experience.

Click here to learn more about me and how I can help.

Modern Husbands Podcast

Winning ideas from experts to manage money and the home as a team. 2023 Plutus Award Finalist: Best Couples or Family Content

🔔 Click here to listen and subscribe to the Modern Husbands Podcast on Apple.

🔔 Click here to listen and subscribe to the Modern Husbands Podcast on Spotify.

Modern Husbands Bimonthly Newsletter

Winning ideas to manage money and the home as a team delivered to your inbox every two weeks. Click here to subscribe. You'll even receive a few free gifts!