[HN Gopher] Developmental costs associated with early maternal w...
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       Developmental costs associated with early maternal withdrawal
       (2022)
        
       Author : magnifique
       Score  : 56 points
       Date   : 2023-09-21 18:06 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
        
       | melenaboija wrote:
       | As a father of a two month old (and acknowledging the article
       | goes in a different direction of my fears) this somehow reflects
       | some of the questions that appear to me on decision taking that
       | affects my child.
       | 
       | And one of my main doubts is how to deal with the tradeoff
       | finance/time spent with the baby. Should one of us quit from
       | work? Maybe part time? Nanny at home vs daycare? Part of myself
       | says it is obvious that the time spent with the kids is
       | invaluable but at the same time thinking in our future and risks
       | makes me be more materialistic.
       | 
       | I wonder how people deal with this.
       | 
       | EDIT: I consider we are in a privileged situation as I think we
       | can afford to live with just one of the incomes.
        
         | Tade0 wrote:
         | My SO was out of the workforce for the 18 months until our
         | daughter started qualifying for daycare and in hindsight it was
         | a good call, because we could do e.g. baby-led weaning or
         | address early signs of future posture problems and just be with
         | her more.
         | 
         | Long term we're both planning on working four days a week but
         | to be perfectly honest it's more so that we can use that one
         | day to recharge.
        
         | gedy wrote:
         | Expenses have a way of ballooning to fill your income, so my
         | wife and I decided to drop to one income when we had our
         | children. It's been fine without daycare or nannies.
        
         | johndhi wrote:
         | Congrats! It's a wild ride.
         | 
         | 2 months was some of the hardest times ime.
         | 
         | Fyi we did long parental leaves followed by home nannies
         | followed by nanny share where we went to other house half of
         | the time to eventually day care, then changed day cares.
         | 
         | It depends on the kid (outgoing, brave, high energy, can start
         | daycare younger) but I like waiting 1 year for day care.
        
         | flardartbhhgg wrote:
         | Here's an idea to consider.
         | 
         | This is a broad scale study with meta analysis of multiple
         | papers.
         | 
         | It isn't meant for you. It's meant for public health
         | administrators, doctors, other researchers.
         | 
         | Parents (especially brand new parents who are into researching
         | everything) all have their alert triggers set on max
         | sensitivity. Just because this paper showed up here don't mean
         | it relates to you.
         | 
         | Do what you find natural and correct and don't invent a
         | narrative that doesn't apply to you.
        
         | kabouseng wrote:
         | Don't delay daycare for too long. The best teachers for your
         | young kids are often other kids. I have friends who left / kept
         | their kids too long at home either caring for them themselves
         | or with a nanny, and the kids were developmentally behind. No I
         | don't believe it was permanently, but it is amazing to see how
         | fast your kids learn to crawl, walk, talk as soon as they see
         | how other kids do it. Everyone finds their own path, situations
         | differ, kids differ. Just something to consider. Oh and have
         | fun with the kids sicknesses once they are in daycare, it takes
         | an entire year for their immune systems to adapt :D Still worth
         | it to go earlier rather than later. (My kids went to day care
         | at 4 months which many will say is too early, each to their
         | own, and my wife resigned her job to stay at home, still went
         | to daycare)
        
         | nonrandomstring wrote:
         | What I learned from summarised nuggets of Winnicott and Bowlby
         | [0,1] is that time spent as they grow is an investment in
         | relationship building for the future. It doesn't have to be
         | that much for fathers, but it needs to be consistent and
         | regular. By the time you want to go skateboarding and bike
         | riding with them, when you have more spare time and money and
         | mum gives them more independence, there needs to be a solid
         | foundational attachment bond. It may not seem like playing with
         | a 1 or 2 year old is "useful or productive", but your mere
         | presence is foundation building.
         | 
         | (dad of 7/8 yo)
         | 
         | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Winnicott [1]
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bowlby
        
         | mrmincent wrote:
         | We were lucky to have some flexibility to spread the load. My
         | wife and I both dropped down to 4 days a week, and my Mother-
         | in-law looks after our son one day a week, so he has a Dad day,
         | a Mum day, a Nana day, and 2 daycare days.
         | 
         | To us it feels like the optimal setup, he gets some valuable
         | one-on-one days with all the important people in his life, gets
         | socialised at daycare, and no one gets too exhausted looking
         | after him all the time. I absolutely love Dad days, I don't
         | think I could ever give them up now.
        
           | mfalcon wrote:
           | It's pretty similar to our current situation, how old is your
           | child?
        
             | mrmincent wrote:
             | 2 and a bit, we're hoping to maintain it until he's in full
             | time school.
        
         | ipnon wrote:
         | Always optimize for the long term. They should all be able to
         | go to college, get healthcare, food and clothes and housing,
         | but once that's settled invest in your relationship with them.
         | Set them up for long term success. It looks a little different
         | for everyone but I'm sure with your context the solution will
         | be clear.
        
         | knallfrosch wrote:
         | Please add a location. Here in Germany, - my wife had 6 weeks
         | maternity leave (fully paid) before birth and 1 year parental
         | leave (65% paid) - I have 2 months parental leave (65% paid)
         | 
         | In Spain for example, it appears to be 4 months (fully paid)
         | for each parent. You can't take 8 months as mother, only the
         | father can claim his share.
         | 
         | Not working in an office and still getting paid makes this
         | decision rather easy.
        
         | dzolob wrote:
         | First of all, cograts!
         | 
         | As father of a 4yo and a 2yo, the only thing I can confidently
         | say is that if available/possible, they need their dad to be
         | around as much as possible. With this in mind, try to find a
         | solution that works for everybody in both the family front and
         | the financial front, but that doesn't mean they get cut off of
         | your presence.
         | 
         | My 4yo wakes up very early in the morning just to be with me,
         | and my 2yo stays late at night (for her hours) just to be with
         | me.
         | 
         | I'm very happy for you. Having kids is a wonderful experience
         | :)
        
       | jcims wrote:
       | My daughter just had her first boy and she's struggling with
       | this. She's a night shift nurse and will regularly go 2 days a
       | week without seeing her little one (1 year old). Now when she's
       | home he's on her hip all day long and they go walking and
       | shopping and just hang out all day 4 or more days a week. So I'm
       | guessing it all balances out, but this makes me a little less
       | confident that everything is perfectly fine.
        
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       (page generated 2023-09-21 23:01 UTC)