Why don't more employers offer decent paternity leave? Photograph: Christa Renee/Getty Images
Another day and yet another poll telling us that an overwhelming 95% of people - not just parents, note - think it is important for fathers to spend time caring for their children during their first two years.
I have a two-year-old son who I look after exclusively for a day each week. While he does have his toddler moments (the emotional breakdown the other morning when I put his cereal in the "wrong" bowl springs to mind), I would say the time we have together is at least as valuable for me as it is for him. It's a magical experience to witness him coming to grips with the world in a way that my father never had the chance to with his kids.
That I can spend this time with him is largely down to a progressive employer - but it's almost impossible to open the weekend papers without falling over some 2,000-word article about how fathers should be doing more to assert their parental rights. Fair enough - but the question for me is, why are we even still talking about it?
The Fatherhood Institute, which commissioned today's survey, is urging the government to give fathers three months' paid leave with children in their first two years. Labour has talked about changing the rules surrounding paternity leave, but isn't it time it - and employers - finally started walking the walk?
