Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Wow. The bar is LOW. We need 12 months parental leave and subsidized daycare, just like in civilized countries. [/quote12 months parental leave and subsidized daycare paid for by the taxpayer/companies sounds like a recipe for single mothers popping out kid after kid after kid. I mean, what would stop them at that point?
Well many European countries still have incredibly low birth rates despite similar policies. These policies go some way towards ensuring moms can return to the workforce (that's the whole point of the subsidized daycare, actually) and it turns out that being a working parent, even with affordable childcare, is hard once you have a couple kids.
I mean, in most of those countries they actually give families cash every month based on how many kids they have. In France, once you have 3 kids you are actually entitled to all kinds of free things plus discounts on lots of services including stuff like movies and museums and transportation. And yet, still, the birth rate is low. Most people, least of all most women, don't actually want to have that many kids. They want to be good parents and have functional lives.