For the first time at Monosus, a father took parental leave.
Changes at home and at work.

This is Matsunaga from the operations team.
On May 27th, our second child (a boy) was born, making our family four.
I wanted my family to get through the period between the birth and my wife being able to get out of bed, so I took parental leave for about a month until the end of June to focus on housework and childcare.
Normally, I only have the opportunity to spend time with my family on weekends, but I would like to write about what I have noticed from living with my family during my maternity leave and the changes in my work environment.

Ken, the new addition to our family

Before the leave, I was busy preparing for my childcare leave.

In fact, no male employees at Monosus had ever taken parental leave, so my boss asked me a variety of questions, such as "When will you start taking parental leave? What documents do you need to apply for it? What work will you be doing while you're away?"
I was so focused on wanting my family to get through life after the birth that I hadn't really thought about how I would take parental leave, so from this point onwards, I began my busy days of preparation.

Among all the preparations for the handover, the most difficult part was handing over the work while I was away.
Because I consulted about parental leave during the busy period at the end of the fiscal year, the handover could not be started immediately and ended up being done in a rush just before the leave.

I identified the tasks that only I had been responsible for and handed over everything except the technical aspects. The work progressed without any major issues during my vacation, which reminded me that there are actually very few things that only I can do.

Just before the birth, my wife's admission date was brought forward by half a day, but thanks to the help of the other members, we were able to rush to the hospital safely and I was able to go on parental leave as I had wished.

A newborn son (Ken-chan) and a daughter (Tsubaki) who has just become a big sister.

Life during vacation

During my parental leave, my wife took care of the baby (hereafter, Ken-chan) most of the time, so she basically had to be with the baby all the time, while I took care of general housework and our older daughter (hereafter, Tsubaki).

Spend time with your family on weekdays

On an afternoon at kindergarten, Matsunaga is forced to play with a stuffed animal (playing the role of Duck) by his daughter.

1. How to interact with children

Unlike holidays when we can play energetically from the morning, playing with my children after they came home from kindergarten required more brainpower than I expected.
On weekends, we can go to the park or the pool and play together in a lively atmosphere, but during the week, my child is tired from daycare, so I've found that it's better to play indoors.
So I spent my time playing the role of a stuffed animal named "Duck" and watching the NHK program " Nosey's Inspiration Workshop " and making crafts.

Princess Zar made from a sieve, inspired by Nosey's Inspiration Workshop

2. I didn't know my house.

After trying out all the housework, I realized that I knew absolutely nothing about my own home. I didn't know where the stationery and batteries were stored, how to sort the children's toys, and so on, but I didn't know where the things my wife had decided to put away were.
I still don't know everything about the house, but by learning the tidying rules during my maternity leave, I've been able to avoid having to ask myself, "Where is that?" as much as I would like.
This was an unexpected benefit during my maternity leave, and it helped me reduce unnecessary stress.

3. Sharing awareness about food

During my maternity leave, I was basically the one who prepared all the meals at home.
However, on the first day of my parental leave, I was given some criticism and told to "make the food with nutritional balance in mind."
At first, I struggled with cooking meals that took my children's preferences into consideration and were nutritionally balanced, but I managed to do my best with the help of Cookpad and other tools.
Now that we have a shared understanding of food, I think that even now when someone asks me, "What should we eat?" I give fewer irrelevant answers.

There are still many more small things to do as our family has gone from three to four, and it has been difficult because there are more things to do. However, thanks to the period of parental leave I took, I feel like I am able to live a less stressful life than when we had three children.

What has changed in the way you approach work?

1. Try working from home

There were times when I would check my work email at 11 a.m. and continue working. At home, there were no people around so I could concentrate on my work, but when I had to discuss complicated matters with people in the company over the phone or chat, I still wanted to meet face to face.
For that reason, I tried to communicate more clearly in writing than when I was at the office.
Also, I had never really felt like I could work outside the office, but after working from home, I realized that it is possible to work from anywhere.

2. How you approach your work

By being away for a month, I was able to take over my work, which gave me the opportunity to take a fresh look at my work after returning from parental leave.
I realized that in my daily work, I could distinguish between "work that only I can do" and "work that only I can do," and by reducing the "work that only I can do" as much as possible, I would have the time to do new work.
By doing a lot of new work, you may be able to find a job that only you can do.

After parental leave

During my parental leave, I was able to create rules for the house, which helped life run more smoothly.
Thanks to this, I feel I have now gained the foundation that allows me to concentrate on my work.
Also, if I hadn't taken parental leave, I don't think I would have realized for several more years that I wanted to explore the possibility of working from anywhere, or that I began to think about "the work that only I do" and "the work that only I can do."