Dad is working reduced hours. How can a household with children manage their finances?
Self-introduction
We are a family of five raising three children (a newborn, a preschooler, and a first-grader).
Both my spouse and I have taken parental leave, and Dad returned to work on a reduced-hours schedule after his leave.
We have a mortgage, and we also worry about education costs and retirement funds.
Even so, while managing our household finances, we want to cherish the family time that we can only have right now.
In our family, where we both chose to take parental leave for our three children,
Dad is currently working reduced hours.
Finishing parental leave and returning to work.
That alone is a big change, but
when you also choose to work reduced hours, the thing you worry about is money.
When you work reduced hours, your income decreases.
We have a mortgage.
We want to think about education costs.
We are also concerned about retirement funds.
For households with children,
the phrase "reduced income"is certainly not something to take lightly.
But in our family, we consider Dad's reduced-hours work
not just as a loss of income, butas a choice to protect our family time
and we have come to terms with it.
Men working reduced hours might still be an uncommon choice
Recently, parental leave for dads has been spreading little by little.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's 2024 Basic Survey on Employment Equality,
the rate of men taking childcare leave has risen to 40.5%.
However, there is still a gap compared to the 86.6% for women.
Furthermore, beyond just parental leave,
families where men choose to work reduced hours after returning to work
may still not be very common.
In one survey, among support systems for balancing work and childcare,
6.8% of men had used a reduced-hours work system, while 25.8% of women had, showing a gap.
That is precisely why there is a part of choosing reduced-hours work for dads
that requires a bit of courage.
Income decreases.
I also worry about how it is viewed in the workplace.
It is not that I haven't thought about the impact on my career.
But taking care of three children is truly hard.
Meals.
Baths.
Putting them to bed.
Taking care of the baby.
Supporting the older children's feelings.
In our family, our eldest son started elementary school this year,
our second son entered a different nursery school than before,
and we cannot just focus on our third son who needs a lot of attention.
Dad being there during this time is,
for our family, not "helping out," but
an essential force for running our lives together
Knowing about the allowance for reduced-hours work can also be a source of peace of mind.
Starting in April 2025,
a system called the Childcare Reduced-Hours Employment Benefit has begun.
This is a benefit that can be received if you work reduced hours to raise a child under the age of 2 and meet certain conditions, such as a reduction in wages.
In principle, the benefit amount is
10% of the wages paid during the reduced working hours period.
However, it is adjusted so that the total of the wages and the benefit does not exceed the wages before the reduced working hours.
Of course, this allowance alone will not cover the entire loss of income.
But knowing that the system exists can slightly reduce the level of anxiety.
Just understanding that "reduced working hours does not mean you have to handle everything on your own"
can make you feel a little lighter.
↓ This is the document on the "Childcare Reduced Working Hours Benefit" published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
※Click to open the PDF.
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/11600000/001394846.pdf
There is also a convenient site called the Reduced Working Hours Simulator.
Getting a rough idea of what your salary will be when you return to work with reduced hours after childcare leave ends can help ease your anxiety.
Also, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has a simple calculation tool
that allows you to check the benefits you can receive during maternity and childcare leave.
Rather than a calculation specifically for reduced working hours,
it is useful to take a look at it as an entry point for thinking about the flow of money from during childcare leave to after you return to work.
What our family organized first was the flow of money
Before choosing to work reduced hours,
the first thing our family did,
was not to increase our income.
First, we visualized our monthly cash flow.
Mortgage.
Insurance.
Smartphone bills.
Utility bills.
Food and daily necessities.
Money spent on children.
And reserve funds for unexpected expenses.
It didn't have to be a perfect household account book,
it was enough to know "what we are spending money on and how much."
Looking at the 30-year life plan table that Dad made,
for the first time,
our family understood a little bit about the true nature of our invisible anxiety.
When will our income decrease?
When will education expenses increase?
How much can we spend on family time?
When you can see it in numbers,
instead of just feeling anxious,
you can start talking about it as a couple.
A choice to buy time, not a reduction in income.
It is a fact that working shorter hours means a decrease in income.
However, during the time when children are small,
being able to spend the evening hours together as a couple.
Being able to listen to what the children have to say.
Being able to hold a crying baby.
Being able to create time so that Mom doesn't have to carry the burden alone.
I believe these are things that cannot be bought back later.
That is why, in our home, we view Dad's shorter working hours as
a choice to buy time in life with money
and accept it as such.
Of course, working shorter hours does not suit every family.
Choosing to work full-time,
or choosing to work shorter hours,
I don't think either one is the 'correct' answer.
What is important is
whether our family can make the choice with conviction.
While preparing for the future,
we also cherish the family time that we can only have now.
To that end, our family will continue to
gradually organize our household finances.
I would be happy if this serves as a reference for those who are similarly worried about how to work and manage household finances after parental leave.
Here is an article that details how our family, where we both took parental leave and Dad chose to work shorter hours, is building our assets.
Thank you so much for reading until the end.
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I also share about our household budget management and family time on the Instagram linked in my profile.