Paid Parental Leave

     I'm doing my solo presentation over the paid parental leave for families in America. This issue is special to me because when i was a baby, my mom was not able to stay home with me longer than 10 weeks. Her and my dad's financial situation required her to return to work as soon as possible. I can just remember my mom telling me she wished she got a longer time, like six months, to be with me. She explained that it was very hard for her to leave me at daycare all day because i had been with her in her stomach for nine months, and then i was with her the first three months of my life nonstop. She said she had just gotten so close to me and didn't want to leave me. I just think about how something like paid leave would have really helped my parents.
     At that time my mom was the highest earner in between her and my dad, so she really had no choice but to return to work. I also feel like my mother having to back to work early effected my dad negatively as well. I think he wanted to give my mother the opportunity to stay home with me longer, but he knew we could not afford it. Many parents in America suffer from the same issues. The cost of living along with the cost of raising a child has gotten so out of hand. Many moms just choose to stay at home indefinitely because it saves more money in the long run.
     I've done a lot of reading on this subject, and the program would not cost employees a lot of money. In California it costs employees about $30 a year. That amount over the course of one year is not a lot of money, and i think most americans would be happy to give back to the new families in america. We are one of the only developed nations that does not have a program like this for new families, and i think we need it now more than ever.