When I was working in the CA Senate I was entitled to eight weeks PAID of the twelve weeks of family leave act. But I was a key staffer in an office of just five Republicans (who are always understaffed). As much as we desperately needed the paid time off, there is simply no way I would just wave and say “good luck” to the guy who put his trust in me when I was hired. I’m not going to stick my nose in the air and say how noble a feeling it was, because it was shear hell financially during those years. But dammit, people need to start taking some responsibility for themselves and their own families if we are ever going to get back to the great nation we once were.
Bravo to your sense of responsibility, instead of a sense of entitlement.
RESPONSIBLE people, when they have children, would have saved money and kept one spouse, mostly likely the mother, at home to care for the child, regardless of the benefit. If you love the little tykes, how could this be a hard decision?
It’s exactly what Mrs TomH and I did. She went back to work after the first was born, but when #2 came along 22 months later she stopped working; #3 came five years after that. Sure, we were broke for a couple years but we were happy. Then, I got a few promotions, we moved to a lower cost of living part of the state, and our finances have never suffered.
And imagine that, we did it all without government benefits!
Such is the America I know. Reliant on no one else, resourceful, not whining because we had to live on beans and rice for a couple of years.