Don't know what you've got...

I was talking with a friend of mine who lives in Italy recently and she was telling me about how the government actually PAID people to have more children. There apparently are some people who can actually make a living off of having kids.

What?!

If you haven't heard, there is a huge birth rate crisis in most of Europe. For many countries, the rate of death is higher than the rate of birth. So the governments are doing what they can to make it easier and give incentives to families to have more than one child. See the link below for a short little overview:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4837422.stm

We've all heard the dire statistics that the US is one of the worst in the world when it comes to providing maternity leave. In a recent piece on Good Morning America, Diane Sawyer stated, "There are only three countries in the world, according to many study groups, that have policies equal to The United States: Swaziland, Liberia, and Papua New Guinea. Even in Iraq, women get one year of maternity leave, six months at full pay, and six months at half pay..."

So in Europe where they have much better maternity leave, the government is having to bribe people to have more children.

Maternity leave in the US is comparable to that of a third world country...and yet, with all of the talk about "Octo-mom", Jon and Kate + eight, and the ridiculously high number of teenage pregnancies you hear about every year, it seems like we have babies falling out of the sky.

Something seems backwards here...

It feels like we're being cheated. Obviously these European countries saw the value of ensuring the well being of women and families by offering substantial Maternity rights...and yet, many people aren't using it.

I'm sure there are many factors at play here, (economic, cultural, etc.) But
for all of us looking over from the other side of the pond it seems like a complete waste, "hey! if you're not going to use it, why not share some with us!?". It must be how people living under dictatorships feel when they hear about the large percentage of Americans who never exercise their right to vote.

Everything is bigger in America...the houses, the cars, the families. and we're known to not settle for anything less than the highest standard of living...so why have we been complacent on this issue for so long? It's really embarrassing when you think about it, to be almost dead last on the list in the entire world in providing care and benefits to mothers. And still we tout ourselves as being, "pro-family". It really shows you where we really have been placing our priorities. :::Cough::: wall street :::cough::: and look how great that turned out...

Perhaps we should, "do as the Romans do", and boycott our baby making for awhile. That'll show them. Once we have a population crisis, maybe they'll start paying us to have babies too...or at least give us paid maternity leave.

what do they say? the grass is always greener?...

ah, you don't know what you've got till it's gone...



In all seriousness, if you are interested in all of this political stuff, check out http://www.momsrising.org/. They have lots of information sure to get you all fired up.