After Spain instituted paternity leave reform on 2007 - what the Spanish needed to help their highest unemployment in Europe was even fewer people working - male fertility went down, according to an analysis of birth records before and after the switch.

This is in contrast to some claims that maternity leave can boost fertility. 

Uptake of the new paternity leave was very high among new dads. Then something strange happened. 

Mothers made more money and had higher employment, that isn't the strange part. The strange part is that after just two weeks of staying home to take care of an infant while mothers went back to work, Spanish men suddenly decided they did not want more children.



What seemed like a nice paid vacation turned into a drop in desire to have more kids. After a man stayed home for paternity leave, it took six years to convince him to have another child. In Sweden, increasing fathers' share of parental leave actually increased divorced rates.

So, ladies, if you want your husband to stop the talk about having a big family, have him watch the infant for an afternoon. Two weeks just seems cruel.