My son Henry was born on Christmas Day 2015. 17 days later, I returned to work because I really have no choice. This is a critical time in my child's life, and I wish I could be home to support him, and my wife. My wife had complications at the end of her pregnancy resulting in a lengthy hospital stay and major surgery. So instead of being able to take care of my wife and my baby, I have to leave my wife home alone with him for at least 9 hours a day, and even if I just got 5 hours a sleep a night, that would leave just 10 hours a day where I could help my wife with the baby. I feel lucky to even have had the time I had, but I had to work hard for it. As a full-time employee, I am entitled to 10 vacation days a year. Instead of relaxing or taking time to visit friends or family, I saved 6 of my vacation days for use when my son was born. Also lucky or unlucky, I work in a 24/7/365 radio newsroom, so I can work holidays and get a compensation day in exchange. Again, it would have been nice to enjoy the 4th of July or Labor Day or Thanksgiving, but I worked so I could get three more days for a total of 9 days off. I still have all of my 10 vacation days ready to use in 2016, but I can't imagine using them now, in January, when we know this kid will get sick, or daycare might be closed for a day or a week, or if I want to use a vacation day to bring him to my hometown of Kansas City, or if I want to actually use a day for actual vacation. I have sick days too, but they only accrue at .5 a month for a total of 6 a year, so I don't have any ready to go. And sure, I can take unpaid leave, but that really isn't an option when I have an extra mouth to feed, a mortgage, mounting student loan debt, and I have to deal with the upcoming massive expense of full-time daycare, not to mention the high cost overall of living in this area. It's a little scary to speak out for this because it feels like I am speaking against my own company's policy. My company does offer maternity leave. 6 weeks paid, but "parents of newly-adopted children and parents of newly-born children who do not personally deliver the child are not eligible for paid maternity leave under this Policy", so I am not eligible. You can't even find the words "paternity leave" or "family leave" in my company's handbook meaning I do not get even one extra day off for having a child. I want to have a second child one day, but without some sort of paid family leave, I'm not sure we could ever do it. Even if I could just recover a portion of my paycheck, I would be all-in. I am 32, a millennial, and this movement is a part of our generation. I am a very active father in my child's life, and I plan to stay that way. I know many men and fathers were not always this way, but I feel like it's different in my generation. And this law could keep families together. So much of the tension that can occur in a relationship can be based on the stress of finances. Giving new parents some time to figure it out would be a big boast to many relationships. I can tell you from experience, just like those who have been through it before, the first few weeks of being a new parent are very difficult. This is one way to make things just a little bit easier.
