Extended paternity leave - considering going oart time, also considering taking PArental leave at some point

[Hotpotatofood]

my DH has a full time job 8 - 16, 1 hour travel to work. so need to leave at 7 and home at 5 pm. now he is on a paternity leave till childs 1st birthday and his eployer got someone to cover his job. We are thinking to re request a payciut and work 4 days a week for him and also wanted him to spend more time with kids whilst they are under 5 ( maybe a chunk of 3 months). so which order is it better to request: at the ned of his leave to request PART TIME, then working part time for 3 months, then to request PARENTAL leave. or is it better to request parental LEAVE straight after paternity and then at the end of the parental to request Part time?

it's not about what's better. It depends what you want really, and on your finances as well.

If you can afford him to have a further three months off unpaid tacked on to his paternity leave, that might be easy for his employer to accommodate, and would delay him going back to work, but if he goes back to work after paternity leave and takes parental leave later on, he'll spend time with the kids when they are a bit bigger.