我们常常把产假视为公司福利——就像人力资源部列在健身津贴和401k匹配旁边的那种福利。研究表明，我们对这种分类的理解是错误的。产假应该成为人生这一阶段常规医疗护理的一部分：我们已经认同值得投资的干预措施，因为其投资回报会在孩子的大脑发育中持续多年。
We often treat paternity leave like a company perk—something HR lists next to the gym stipend and the 401k match. The research says we are wrong about that categorization. Paternity leave should be part of routine medical care during this stage of life: interventions we already agree are worth investing in because the return on investment continues years later in a child’s brain.
美国是地球上少数几个没有联邦法律保障带薪产假的富裕国家之一。关于最初几个月对孩子大脑影响的数据表明，我们一直把这一关键的发展窗口当作排班上的不便来对待。
The U.S. is one of the only wealthy nations on Earth with no federal guarantee of paid paternity leave. The data on the impact of those first months on a child’s brain suggest we have been treating a critical developmental window like a scheduling inconvenience.
雇主和员工基本上都同意需要努力实现工作与生活的平衡。虽然性别平等的论点常被用来既推动又阻碍关于产假的讨论，但这不仅仅是一场价值观之争。事实证明，父亲的产假以及他在婴儿期的参与，与孩子更好的认知、社交和情绪调节结果相关，这些结果是可以被测量的。
Employers and employees basically agree on a need to strive for work-life balance. And while the gender equity argument is used to both advance and stymie conversations about paternity leave, it is more than a values fight. It turns out that paternity leave and a father’s engagement during infancy is associated with better cognitive, social, and emotional regulation outcomes for the child that can be measured.
在对现有父亲研究的综述中，俄亥俄州立大学的研究者Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan指出，与父亲缺乏积极持续参与的孩子相比，那些经历父亲积极持续参与的孩子在同伴关系方面表现更好，智力测试得分更高，数学和语言准备及发展更佳，依恋形成更安全。尽管这些趋势是相关性的，但父亲参与带来的益处早在学前阶段就能在成绩单上看到，并且可能持续到成年。
In a review of existing fatherhood research, Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, a researcher at the Ohio State University, highlighted better peer relationships, higher intelligence test scores, greater math and language readiness and development, and more secure attachment formation among children who experience positive and sustained father involvement compared to those who don’t. Though these trends are correlational, these father-involvement gains show up on report cards as early as preschool and can continue into adulthood.
这些益处从父亲传递给孩子的一种可能途径是游戏的质量。加拿大研究者Daniel Paquette观察到，父亲的游戏常常包含兴奋、惊喜、敬畏以及对孩子的暂时震惊和干扰，这种互动是培养关键发展技能的基础，如冒险精神、个人效能感和自我倡导能力。
One possible avenue through which these benefits pass from father to child is the quality of play. Canadian researcher Daniel Paquette observed that father’s play often includes excitement, surprise, awe, and temporary shock and disruption for children, and this kind of interaction is the foundation for crucial developmental skills like risk-taking, personal efficacy, and self-advocacy.
与父亲有更持续积极互动的儿童，在焦虑、抑郁和行为问题等主要儿童心理健康领域表现出更好的结果。育儿假为父亲创造了空间，并有助于培养积极参与，如体能游戏、参加学校活动和细心倾听孩子，这些都与儿童健康发展息息相关。安全依恋、更多亲社会的兄弟姐妹互动以及更好的社会能力，带来了自我调节等其他益处。
Children who have more consistent positive engagement with their fathers have better outcomes across some of the main child mental-health domains, including anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems. Paternity leave creates space for and helps develop active involvement like physical play, showing up to school events, and careful listening to a child, and these are connected to healthy child development. Secure attachment, more prosocial sibling interactions, and better social competence result in other benefits, like self-regulation.
这是入学准备和成功的标志性指标，在此方面，父亲的参与同样大有裨益。从发展角度来看，父亲看似粗野的嬉戏打闹，实则是训练儿童建立自我调节能力、管理唤醒水平，以及实时控制冲动和情绪。
This is a hallmark indicator of school readiness and success, and here, too, father engagement pays dividends. What looks like fathers rough-housing, developmentally speaking, is training for children to build capacity for self-regulation, managing arousal, and controlling impulses and emotions in real time.
早期识字和家访项目如“开端计划”因取得类似的儿童发展成果而广受赞誉，但父亲的参与还带来额外的社会、发展和家庭益处，包括改善养育关系。此外，其他国家在转向“用进废弃”政策后，成功说服更多父亲休带薪育儿假，该政策规定带薪育儿假的一部分专门留给父亲，不可转让给母亲。与2000年代初的早期趋势相比，带薪育儿假的休假率稳步上升；在冰岛，1998年仅有15%的父亲休假，而2002年这一比例超过80%。
Early literacy and home-visiting programs like Head Start are widely celebrated for similar child development outcomes, but father engagement has additional social, developmental, and familial benefits including improved parenting relationships. Moreover, other countries have found success in persuading more fathers to take paid paternity leave after shifting to a “use-it-or-lose-it” policy, by which a portion of paid parental leave is reserved exclusively for fathers and is non-transferable to the mother. Compared to earlier trends dating back to the early 2000s, paid paternal leave uptake has steadily increased; in Iceland, just 15% of fathers took leave in 1998, while more than over 80% did in 2002.
西班牙从2000年到2007年增长了400%。同样在2007年，德国将定额育儿假津贴改为基于收入的福利（即净收入的67%），并为父亲保留两个月“用进废弃”假期后，育儿假休假率从2006年的3.5%上升至2021年的24.8%。
Spain recorded a 400% increase from 2000 to 2007. Also in 2007, after Germany replaced their flat-rate leave pay with an income-based benefit (i.e., 67% of net earnings) and reserved two “use-it-or-lose-it” months for fathers, uptake of parental leave increased from 3.5% in 2006 to 24.8% in 2021.
美国在这一领域远远落后。即便存在产假，也常常是无薪且无保障的，例如，母亲无法将其产假的一部分转移给父亲，以便父亲能够多休息一些时间。这意味着许多父亲没有利用这一关键的儿童发展和家庭资源。大多数新父亲在孩子出生后一周内就返回工作岗位，而此时正是研究表明他们在场所发挥最重要作用的时候。
The U.S. is lagging far behind in this area. Where paternity leave does exist, it is often unpaid and unguaranteed, and mothers for instance, cannot transfer a portion of their allotted maternity leave to the father to allow him to take extra time off. This means that many fathers do not use this critical child development and family resource. Most new fathers are back at their desk within a week of their child’s birth, right as the research suggests their presence does some of its most consequential work.
我们可以通过联邦带薪休假立法来提高这一资源的使用率，从而改善所有父亲的休假获取途径。这有可能带来儿童认知、学术和情感发展的广泛积极影响。
We can increase the uptake of this resource with federal paid leave legislation, which will improve access to leave for all fathers. This would have the potential to lead to widespread positive cognitive, academic, and emotional development of children.
雇主无需等待立法。他们可以在公司实施“用掉或失去”的政策，以员工的最佳利益为出发点。
Employers need not wait on legislation. They can apply the “use-it-or-lose” approach at their companies in the best interest of their employees.
父亲获得和使用产假的问题不是关于就业福利是否可用的问题，而是一个发展问题，而我们已经知道如何回答发展问题。我们不会将产前护理视为一种“可有可无的福利”，也不应将父亲在孩子出生后最初几个月的在场视为如此。
Fathers’ access to and use of paternity leave is not a question of available employment benefits. It is a developmental one, and we already know how to answer development questions. We don’t treat prenatal care as a “nice perk.”We should not be treating the first months of a father’s presence like that, either.