Nothing wrong with paternal leave, but being stay at home makes you more lonely rather then less. Being at home with kid was the most isolating lonely experience I ever had. So while great if men do it more, I doubt it will make men less lonely.
Although I will also say that if the goal is to enable fathers to find friends, having access to affordable/free child care would be the most impactful. Many households don’t have that, so childcare is split among working parents and nobody gets very much free time at all.
Yes, there is a lot valuable in that. But I do not really see how it would made fathers less lonely.
The real question is why these places eroded.
Same for my wife and her friends.
And the partner who doesn't babysit is free to hang out and do activity that can't be done with kid.
We also spend vacations and weekends together with other families.
I think the major problem is that Americans live in suburban deserts and move a lot, thus being far away from their old acquittances.
I live in a mid-size, mid-dense city along with my friends who I made in high school or college.
This is odd, because making friendships of course includes hanging out with men and women. Whether your boss is a man or woman has little to do with hanging out with your peers during off time.
That being said, work is often not the best place to build enduring friendships. It really kinda depends. Sometimes the friends you make on a job will not really be friends with you once you leave.
There aren't many places where people can't be flakey these days.