The first few years of having kids can be charitably described as an intense orientation. It’s taken me some time to process the experience, and I’m starting to feel a little more comfortable sharing some opinions on the topic. One opinion that has grown on me is that it is time to increase access to paid paternity and maternity leave.
Right now only about half of American workers qualify for the limited benefits of the Family Medical Leave Act. We fit into that breakdown fairly well, I qualified for FMLA and my wife didn’t. In conversations leading up to the birth of our girl I also came to realize that many people don’t understand that FMLA provides only unpaid time off. Like most couples we had to use a combination of vacation, sick time, and unpaid leave for our babies. In addition, my wife could have legally been fired for not showing up to work when she was recovering with the baby. Now we both kept our jobs and were financially ready for the event, but not everyone has that luxury. Many people deplete all vacation and sick time which limits their options for caring for needs that the baby might have in the coming months.
Even a lot of young and healthy mothers won’t have the capacity to work for a couple weeks leading up to the birth. Many are prohibited from walking up stairs for six weeks after a birth. You can have a great plan for the finances and timeline of having a baby, and that can all get thrown out of the window within five minutes of seeing a doctor. Starting a family and a financial crises at the same time can lead to years of debt and consequences. Why not take some steps that can keep young families out of financial crises.
I also think that it is important for fathers to take real time off. I remember the day before we went to the hospital someone trying to tell me that I was planning to take too much time off of work and pushing me to change my plans. On most days, an insensitive comment wouldn’t have affected me much. But I was really hurt by that at a time when I was under a lot of stress and uncertainty. I felt like I really stood out for taking more than two weeks off. Fathers should take time off, caring for a newborn and a mother is important. There are many in my generation that are spending more time playing and caring for their children, and that is something we should be proud of, and fight for.
Let’s get families started with a little less stress, and a little more financial backing. There are many countries that have figured out how ways of supporting paid leave, and we can put reasonable limits on the program. This is not going to drive companies out of business and it’s not going to lead us to socialism. I think it is time to make paid family leave a reality.
