In planning for the baby’s arrival, my wife and I are trying to figure out parental leave. By law, the United States must allow 12 weeks for both mother and father. However, this is all unpaid. We therefore must use vacation pay or take the time off unpaid.
Studies now indicate just how important bonding time is during the first 12 weeks for both the mother AND the father. So kudos to America for giving this time to both parents.
However….
Not a lot of people have a full 12 weeks of vacation pay saved up and as I’ve been told again and again, our expenses will go waaaaaaay up after having a child. So it is really impractical to take all 12 weeks. Everything I’ve heard about the first months indicates that we really “aren’t going to get much sleep” and we’re going to be “tired all the time”. Other people seem to take delight in telling us this. Thanks. But we’re aware of this and know we’re going to be so tired during these 12 weeks that I’m not sure how much use we’d actually be at work.
So let’s compare. Here is a PDF of a study showing the parental leave of 21 developed countries. It’s a little wordy but if you skim down a few pages you’ll get some informative graphs.
And I just went to Wikipedia and am now ashamed and appalled at the lack of paid support in the USA. Assuming this is accurate (it is after all Wikipedia) the United States is the ONLY country listed to NOT give some financial support to parents. This includes the less wealthy countries in Africa and Asia. Is this upsetting to anyone else?
And an article in USA Today adds a more personal touch.
Way to be an ass, America.
I've never really understood the parental leave thing and how it's a "benefit" when it's unpaid. I guess it does benefit one in the fact that you can't be fired for taking time off (think of children born where long hospital stays are required for either mother or child, especially those not living in metropolitan areas). I've got 2 new mothers at work who had to come back after 4 weeks due to the very reason you bring up - no vacation pay.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting our country touts the "what about the children" thing all the time, but when the rubber meets the road, the benefits these children need are either taken away or are nonexistent.
I'm still up in arms about the whole "leave the kids with the drug addicted parents to help them overcome their addiction" thing. WTH? So, we take away the benefits (welfare and such), leave the kids with the drug addicted parents, and we expect the kids to grow up and be better than their parents? Isn't that making the kids nothing more than pawns in the government bureaucracy? This makes no sense! Now that's America (or this State) being an Ass.
And a little more research shows that past attempts to pass legislation financing parental leave have been denied due to big business. I get it. We want this leave paid but nobody wants to pay for it.
ReplyDeleteWhat more will it take to get people to realize that those first few weeks are an investment and will do more to help curb crime and promote economic growth in the long run? *shakes fist angrily*
It begins with leave, then, and continues with lack of funding for preschools and kindergartens. Then it affects materials and student-teacher ratios. We have 37 kids in a class and not enough textbooks for each of them. I waited 5 days for enough chairs for students in my language arts classroom this year. I watched a show about Sweden yesterday. They have a common expression to answer, "How are you?" It means it is good enough. I am content. Swedes wonder about Americans grasping to be #1, the best, the most powerful. What is wrong, they wonder, with content?
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