No, it's not at all like being laid off.

I've been on a crazy stretch of travel. My last five weeks have been: 3 days in Seattle, 2 days in Austin, 3 days doing an onsite visit at a local customer site (at least I got to go home every night during that one!), 3 days of training in Atlanta (followed by a few days of visiting with my parents), and then 2 days back in Seattle earlier this week.

I flew from Atlanta directly to Seattle on Sunday night, and got to chatting with my hotel shuttle driver about my traveling. I said, "Thankfully, my husband is home on paternity leave. So he's in a better position to handle all my travel than he would be if he were working at his normal job and had all of that stress on top of taking care of the kids."

The shuttle driver was very confused. "Oh, he's not able to find a job? Is that like being laid off?"

Ummm, no. Paternity leave is not at all like being laid off.

Eventually, I helped him understand what paternity leave was. So then he asked, "Oh. Is that going alright? Your husband taking care of the kids?"

Ummm, yes. Why wouldn't it?

And why do I suspect that no one asked Hubby during my maternity leave, "So, is that going alright? Your wife taking care of the kids?"