Do mums really want new dads at home with them?

DID you see the babygrows hung up by the Angel of the North this week?

- Carrie Carlisle

Four of them, brightly-coloured, strung on a makeshift washing line.

With one word printed on each: “Two Weeks Isn't Enough.”

It’s part of a campaign to revolutionise paternity leave in the UK.

Because - surprise, surprise - the UK grants the worst paternity leave in all of Europe.

It currently consists of a fortnight at less than half of the minimum wage.

Since it's Mental Health Awareness Week, it would be remiss of me not to point out here that 45% of new fathers experience multiple symptoms of depression in their baby’s first year.

And, whilst we are making with the nerdy stats: 82% of dads say better paternity leave, is the biggest thing our Government could do to protect their mental health.

(I got these figures from a study commissioned by Movember and Dadshift, who are both doing brilliant work in men’s mental health.)

None of us ever know how childbirth is going to go.

Or what additional medical help a newborn is going to need afterwards.

Which makes me wonder, why can't the paternity policy have exceptions like this built into it?