I didn’t know that our government gave ANY money for toddler care. It’s absolutely absurd how expensive it is to have kids in the U.S. From prenatal care, to delivery, to maternity leave (oftentimes unpaid), rarely any paternity leave, to daycare and decent schools, the U.S. system is way more expensive than average “wealthy nations”. My German girlfriend who’s currently pregnant told me that it’s ILLEGAL for her to work 6 weeks before her due date and 8 weeks after it. By law, she can’t work more than 32 hours a week these days AND her make boss is supportive!? She’s an attorney. She is taking a full year off- paid. I think it’s 70% of her salary. Her husband gets 4 months off- PAID paternity leave. He plans to take 2 months off once the baby is born and 2 months off when his wife returns to work. She also told me that it’ll cost her only $500/month for daycare once they both return to work. AND (this one still blows me away), Germany gives parents $200/month. This is called “children’s money”. 😲🤯😲🤯😲🤯
I was, and still am, amazed by how drastically different the U.S. is in this regard.