<story><title>Why we offer parental leave</title><url>https://www.aerofs.com/blog/parental-leave-at-aerofs/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>geebee</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m very glad to see this post, and to see that these issues are gaining in importance and visibility.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s not because I plan to use parental leave.  I already have two kids.  And it&amp;#x27;s not only because I&amp;#x27;m glad to see these policies help other people out, though of course that&amp;#x27;s part of it.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s that this sort of &amp;quot;perk&amp;quot;, rather than foosball tables, beer fridays, and vintage video game machines, give me hope that the industry is outgrowing its insular, &amp;quot;young people are just smarter&amp;quot; culture.  That maybe employers are actually interested in sustained careers that will experience the ebb and flow of life, rather than just a period of extended adolescence.  Parental leave policies do imply long term thinking.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why we offer parental leave</title><url>https://www.aerofs.com/blog/parental-leave-at-aerofs/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>yawz</author><text>Nice to see parents in the US might start to enjoy one of the standard benefits in most (probably all) European countries. Being a father, I cannot even imagine leaving my 6-week old baby in a day care, which seems to be the thing parents have to do in the US if both are working.&lt;p&gt;Also, I think gender equality is an important one on many aspects:
 - Bonding with the child(ren) should not only a motherly privilege.
 - The mother&amp;#x27;s career may be more important to concentrate on.
 - The father may be interested in doing his share.
 - I&amp;#x27;m not certain but from the point of view of the child(ren) there can be advantages to have both parents involved the same way.&lt;p&gt;Ideally I&amp;#x27;d like to see certain amount of time allocated to the &amp;quot;family&amp;quot; that can be used&amp;#x2F;divided by the parents as they see fit.</text></comment>