Tip 24: Giving mummy her time off at least once a week

Tomomi, my wife has decided she would not be working and would take care of Haruka full time and maybe later her role gets larger when there are more children under her care. Its a common practice of many Japanese mothers to be homemakers since they do not have many children and would prefer to spend quality time with their children and also since the government gives them the incentive to take a whole year off work with 50% paid holiday if they choose to return to work after 1 year. Also, as childcare centers are less personal and hiring a personal nanny is so expensive in Japan, Japanese mothers prefer to not work since its also tough to juggle work and home chores. After delivery, many Asian mothers observe a confinement period to stay at home for around 1-3 months to rest. Some would go the extra mile to follow strict confinement traditions such as not even taking a bath f0r a month and maintaining a strict diet by avoiding many types of food that are considered a taboo to a mother who has just undergone delivery. It is not as strict here in Japan but still Tomomi stayed home and did not venture too far during her first month even when she felt stronger and well. But, mummy usually gets bored staying home and that is when daddy needs to work out a schedule to make mummy happy.

Most of us daddies work a full day and come back home in the evening or night feeling jealous of mummy if she just spents her day at home. But, mummy too have her stress at home being trapped to absorb sounds of the baby's cries and the smells of soiled diapers and would yearn to go out of the home and smell fresh air and see beautiful flowers again or just have a change of environment even if for a short while. I have my weekends off from work and with so many new babycare errands, I would plan to do some babycare errands on weekends until I realized it would be good to at least give Tomomi 2 hours on all weekends to go out of the house without taking Haruka with her. This gives her the chance to go to a bookstore or just enjoy window shopping. And if only 2 hours is needed to recharge mummy's battery - then its the most efficient family management tactic. Daddies, please learn this quick and get more happiness and returns from this tip.