Who knew we were so behind other countries when it came to this issue? According to this article the US is pretty stingy with maternity leave policies. Most people probably already know this, either from dealing with it first hand or seeing their own company deal with such a situation. As a women, it is pretty distburbing to know that most companies operating in America don’t put much value on maternity leave. Or even if they do, the laws don’t support their views and besides doing their best to let you use sick and vacation days there is little they can do to assist you.

So what do we do? Well obviously we need to reach out to our lawmakers and let them know that the current system is not ok and needs to be changed. Being a parent is the most important job there is and allowing working moms and dads to take time off to take care of their new baby is a necessity. I know we live in a world of 24-7 daycare and nannies, but not everyone is comfortable doing this, and they shouldn’t be.

So many politicians lecture about the dissolution of the American family and how we are losing our family values. Well how do you expect families to stay intact if you don’t even allow them a normal amount of time to start off their life together as a family, the way they want to? I know it is not as simple as it sounds and providing generous maternity time is expensive. But there are other alternatives. So many other countries are doing it successfully so I know we can to.

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