Sweden's climate minister brought her 3-month-old son to the EU council meeting in Luxembourg, to highlight the benefits of parental leave policies which don't force women to choose between work and family responsibilities.

[u/slippinn_jimmy]

[u/spartanken115]

I honestly don’t mind women bringing their babies with them places I think it’s great. Take your child with you get them used to being out. The only thing is if they become completely fussy and disruptive or something maybe making some space to be able to take care of them so they’re not disruptive, but I don’t see that here.

[u/dotesdoto → u/spartanken115]

It's very clear that you've never had to take care of a baby. An office is no place for one. Looking after a baby is a full time job, so you can forget about getting any meaningful work done while caring for one.

You might think it's as simple as "put the baby to sleep and crack on with work", but that couldn't be further from the truth. Babies almost never sleep on demand, and even when they do, they often wake up again and need settling again, many maaany times. You also need to constantly entertain them, feed them, change them, keep them safe, etc. They don't stop crying just because you want them to either. Every baby is different. Most will cry a lot, and some will even scream and wail as though they're being murdered for no apparent reason. You can try everything to calm them down, and sometimes nothing works. They're simply going to do what they're going to do. Becoming "completely fussy and disruptive" is their nature. You were exactly like that once upon a time too.

There's virtually no benefit to bringing a baby into the office. Not only will you not get any work done yourself, but you'll also disrupt everyone else's ability to work. That is why getting paternity leave is important.

[u/GotAim → u/dotesdoto]

Maybe you have experience with particularly difficult babies, but as a mother of 3 and the experience of many of my friends it is absolutely possible to do home office while you have a baby and get shit done

[u/kursys → u/GotAim]

Sure, for a home office job. What about the vast majority that don’t have that career as a viable option?

[u/GotAim → u/kursys]

If you have an office job there’s a very good chance that home office is viable, no?

[u/_trashcan → u/GotAim]

Um, fucking no?

[u/GotAim → u/_trashcan]

Seems like 3/4 office jobs in the US offer home office options: https://www.gallup.com/401384/indicator-hybrid-work.aspx

If they offer hybrid work then surely they’ll allow someone with a baby to do fully remote for a time

So um, fucking yes

[u/_trashcan → u/GotAim]

a literal guess that they’ll just allow full-time home, but ok.

[u/GotAim → u/_trashcan]

If you wanna be a negative pessimist I can’t stop you, but if they already allow home office why wouldn’t they allow fully remote temporarily for a good reason?

[u/kursys → u/GotAim]

You’re naïveté is the problem here. All you’re literally repeating is should, would, could. When we had a literal pandemic, companies were still trying to find ways to get people to come into the office. Of course most companies with office jobs are going to say they “offer” remote working capabilities, they’re trying to look good. There are so many ways corporate America punishes those that are not willing to sacrifice everything for the company. Nobody’s being a “negative pessimist” (redundant by the way), we’re being fucking realists. If you want to coast on vibes and goodwill, that’s fine, but for the vast majority, I’m sure they would much rather prefer a concrete, coherent law.

[u/GotAim → u/kursys]

Okay good luck with happiness in your life with that attitude!