I had an interesting conversation with someone the other day, someone who’d just returned from south Asia. It’s such a can-do culture there, she said. People are willing to stay late, to work late, to get things done. And in that, she saw the death of Europe, where the 36-hour working week and six weeks of vacation a year is the norm and no one does overtime or weekends.

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And she’s right. It can be incredibly frustrating to get things done when people work less, especially during the entire month of August when no-one is around except the tourists, who are probably also frustrated because not much is open for business.

Cost
But I have to wonder what the cost is for a can-do society. Perhaps it works in south Asia where family networks are both larger and closer, and can fill in the gaps when parents work longer hours, but one of the things that I like about Holland is that things are set up so you can actually spend a decent amount of time with your family.

OK, so there’s only a three-month maternity leave (and a paternity leave of two days!!), but there is a lot of room for part-time workers with decent pay and flexi-hours. And fathers can ask for a papadag or “father’s day”; a fixed day off every week so they can take care of their kids (and give mom an extra day of work).

In most of the families I know in Canada, both parents are working 8am to 6pm, five days a week, and really only get to see their kids on weekends, when they’re exhausted. The daycare that my son goes to doesn’t let kids go five days a week (though it is permitted in Holland), and I don’t know a single child who does, even the children of the busiest Dutch parents I know.

Guilt
Most of all, there’s an understanding here, that sometimes you have to come to work later or leave earlier because of your kids – without any guilt. It all makes for a much more relaxed atmosphere at home, at work and with the bringing up of kids.

So, the question is, do we want to get more done, or spend more time with our families? It’s a tough call. Either way, something suffers. Though with the current round of spending cuts that the Dutch government is making to everything from culture to education and that daycare subsidy, that may all be about to change.