what do childfree/childless people get instead of "parental leave?"
I think it's great that all the Democratic candidates are pushing for paid family leave in order to bond with the new child or take care of a sick family member. But how is this going to be implemented in a way that is not unfair to nonparents? I have heard of similar benefits offered as part of a package in a cafeteria style menu. So if you don't have kids and are not planning to have kids, you could use a gym membership, or parking vouchers, or extra vacation, or what have you. But if the government is going to mandate new parents be allowed to have paid leave to bond with their children, where does that leave the non-parents who might want to volunteer at an animal shelter, work for the environment, or do something to contribute to society other than having a child?
i'm not down on paid family leave, and I'm not trying to pit people with children against people without children. I'm interested in genuine ideas about how this could be implemented in a way that is fair to everyone. Having children is a choice that not everyone makes. But paid leave is a benefit, that if it is going to be implemented, should be equally applied to all workers . How does this get solved fairly if the government is going to get involved with it?
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It's not a 'reward' for parents.
It's for the kids.
OK, I'll put it this way: As a non-parent, your benefit is not having the responsibility of raising kids. No doctor bills, no orthodontist's bills, fewer groceries, smaller housing needs, no clothing for them, no college tuition, etc., etc., ad infinitum.
It takes a hell of a lot of money to raise one or more children.
There's your bonus and then some.
you seem to think it's unfair for your tax money to be used to support a benefit for some folks without a corresponding benefit for yourself. I'm simply pointing out that.....
1-You don't fund the entire of the government, state and federal, by yourself.
2-There is much worse that your tax dollars get spent on.
3-None of us receive line item veto power, and if I did, stopping family leave would be way down on my list. Right down there with SNAP, unemployment, etc...(I mean, why should I help paid for unemployment if I don't plan on being unemployed?)
If you feel as if I'm looking down on you, it's just because the idea of resisting a good idea just to save a couple of dollars is beneath me. But have a great day anyways!
Where have I heard that before ...? (Donald Trump and republicans in general)
Funny ... that is EXACTLY what I have been saying!
Only ...
My question has been why they continually tell me they are my allies.
glad you got to have time with her
to care for my (first) husband when cancer was ravaging him. I was gone for 4 months... helped with payroll and staffing, but did that from home without pay, but had my job when I was ready to return, and I was grateful. It's a shame we as a country, don't value care-takers whether in regard to children, elderly or the dying.
I hope when the day comes and you take advantage of the Family Leave Act, it's for something positive and not negative.
Take care 
Excellent point, and disappointed to see just two others acknowledged. 
has to step away from du, yes?
I think the idea of family leave is fine as long as childless get time to take care of their family, however one defines it.
paid leave is a type of compensation. if some workers get it but other workers do not, that is a compensation issue. i am advocating a more even type of compensation be afforded to people who will never end up having kids and therefore never choosing to take paid parental leave.
if one gets paid time "away from work" (lets not call it "off"
to be a parent, that translates into dollars. nonparents should get the same offer to be away from work with pay to pursue something important to them which may not involve having children.
Someone suggested it's not a personal choice for the child. You disagreed with them. So someone asserted the opposite argument which you said was never suggested. Um, was suggested the moment you disagreed with the first poster. YOU suggested it. 
They're just going to have to deal with a little on-screen violence, excessive vulgarity, and being told to close their eyes when what my 11-year-old daughter calls "boob scenes" happen.
thank you
it is soul crushing
And you survive by the sheer will to move forward.
6 years later, and I'm a total wreck each time his birthday passes. And Christmas. And Halloween. Ah damn.....
This is his picture, his name was Ian, but he liked the name John, which--we told him--is a variation of the same name
One day soon, he will be gone longer than he was alive, and it won't matter.
we risk making value judgments, which I'm not saying you're doing, but some might. We all love who we love and many of us have people in our lives who are not blood relatives but nevertheless feel like family. And some have pets who are their family. I like to think were all big enough and the tent is big enough to support love and care, whatever form it comes in.
expecting a slew of replies including cheesy songs, Mary Poppins links, and perhaps a reference to Toto or the yellow brick road.
not unlike my cat, who also sometimes seems able to figure out when I'm doing something just to mess with her...
and when they have a baby, you should get 6 weeks to not care for it or have anything to do with it.
how many times do we have to explain this?
are you actually resenting that leave would be granted to benefit a child?
are you actually jealous that a child would get time with their parents?
the mind boggles.
But keep playing
pay for the public schools.
Canadian here. I get 2 weeks. Minimum by law. No mandatory 4-6 weeks here. We are as bad as you in most ways with labor laws. However, most companies around here offer far more, plus sick days plus 'flex' days. My mom, for instance, gets roughly 7 weeks total if you add up everything. My 2 weeks is rare around here, but it's an American run company so not surprising. Most people just work at my company to gain experience and then off they go.
Anyhow.
While neither here nor there, I'm also a single parent. 10 days vacation is pathetic. I basically have to work overtime and take the time off in lieu just so I have enough hours off a year to take my kids (and myself!) to various appointments. And my kids are very healthy and rarely need doctors - I can't imagine what those single parents with special needs kids do. At my company, we also have to take vacation time even for doctor ordered tests and appointments. I had a mammogram and then a biopsy and had to take vacation time for that. That took about 6 hours off my vacation time total between the various appointments (and I went back to work right after my biopsy, with a big ol'bandage on my boob - lol, and a lot of pain - not so lol).
And I have no idea how women deal with only 6 weeks off for mat leave. With my first child my cesarean scar had opened up and become infected at 5 weeks postpartum and I was still walking hunched over for several weeks after that, then I developed a kidney infection and pleurisy. Add to that a colicky baby and leaking boobs and I cannot imagine the hell on earth it would have been to return to work at that time. It's absolutely inhumane. 1 year is the amount here in Canada. And everyone here is fine with it. Maybe it's because we believe in the common good, and we love our health care and realize that not everyone has the same needs at the same time, and that it's not all about mememememe.
Also, economically, it has created a special 'niche' for some people. For instance, most women take the full year off for mat leave. Their employer has to find a replacement for that year (can't just get some other person to cover for 6 weeks) so they advertise for a temporary replacement. Some people I know like to take a temp job, work for a year, then take some time off before the next 'gig'- it's usually other moms, whose kids are older, and they are not the main breadwinner. When you think about it in economic terms - there is now someone else working for a year that otherwise wouldn't have been, plus the person on mat leave is still receiving benefits - that's 2 people making money and spending it. It's like its own little economic stimulus. 
I think parental leave and paid sick days are wonderful investments in society and I'm not making any demands for comps, but honestly I do get a little tired of always being the guy left behind covering for the moms and dads.
It really cuts into my DU time. 
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"I deserve time off to care for my sick cat, too!"
but nice try!
Im not the only one here who made those observations.
not be paying into Social Security. But he also won't be contributing to global warming and using resources at the rate of a person living in a first world nation. But I decided not to even open that can of worms. Until now
with your OP.
Of course you didn't.
And it's not even February.
but i not the one who brought up whiskers to begin with
but I thought that was apropos for circumcision.
...wondering how other non-parent people thought about it.
I'll think of it as the school-tax-thing. Happy to do my part.
..the compensation on a national scale, then mathematically, give a childless person (couple) a remuneration package.
They could give that to a charity or perhaps decline it for days off. As far as what to give society, that's a choice for people on a daily basis. I give a lot to society...just don't say much about it on this forum.
Personally, I feel the parents who have children are already in trouble. They need all the help they can get.
who both support family leave. but since you asked, i support bernie for a number of reasons, but there are four that top the list
money is the most corrupting influence now in the political process imo as resulting from citizens united and seriously threatens our democracy. bernies position on this is well known.
another huge threat to our country is the transfer of wealth upwards. bernies position on this is clear too.
not getting into wars of choice but working with the world community to solve problems. again, bernie is not a hawk.
climate change... nuff said.
and for the bazillionth time, I SUPPORT FAMILY, MEDICAL, AND PARENTAL LEAVE. I do not believe i am an ogre for suggesting that some type of equivalent leave or benefit for nonparents is a nice idea.
and if you are that much of a bernie supporter, why not make it official and support him in the primary?
The rest of this thread has been useful for filling up a couple of Bingo cards! 
More money for themselves rather than spending most income on the kid?
or *gasp* use the resources society gives them to help make their child's lives better.
if i said i didn't have occasional thoughts of support for martin. if i were to ever stray politically, it would be him. but i have been for bernie since before he even ran so its hard to imagine switching. but i want to hear what everyone says right up until voting day....ok well i don't want to necessarily hear the same amount of verbiage from everyone, but i will just leave it at that.
It is part of family leave and mostly unpaid. Once you've used up your sick leave and vacation time, you get unpaid leave ... the only plus is that you don't have to worry about losing your job.
I had to take unpaid leave to take care of my dying mom this August. Just six years ago, I had to take parental leave to take care of my preemie son who was in the NICU for 2 weeks, while I could hardly move because of a slipped disk in my back. I needed back surgery just to be somewhat functional so I can take care of my son.
I'd gladly give you any of those leave days if that would spare me the anguish of going through any of that. Be thankful that you don't need to take that kind of leave. It is not a walk in the park and all fun 
Even before I had my son or had to take care of my dying mom, I've NEVER envied anyone for getting that kind of leave.
My son is now 6 and is doing better. I still haven't caught up on restoring my sick leave because he gets sick every so often. Also, my husband has a heart condition and I had to spend many nights in the ER. And, with a child who comes home with a cold bug or stomach bug, it is just a matter of time until the whole family gets sick. So, I essentially never accumulate any sick leave because I have to take off so much. I am very fortunate that I have a boss who went through the same thing and is very understanding.
I understand that some people think it is unfair because they don't get all that leave. But, it is unpaid leave for having to deal with all the mental and physical anguish. I truly could do without that
I totally agree that the US sucks when it comes to taking care of its citizens. I was born in Germany and lived there until I was 30. I never had to worry about health insurance or anything. Maybe we paid a little more taxes, but that was just part of the deal. The nation benefits as a whole if people have a better standard of living and are healthier.
about what's best for society, for children, for the raising of children and are arguing vociferously against the OP's attitude.
i agree with everything else you said, but i feel like your statement about everybody thinking the same way as the OP dismisses the nearly 500 responses to the OP that take him to task.
Not the people in this thread.
Oh, by the way--remind me on FB, Rhythm found a picture she thinks you'll like
There's a cost to society when children are not nurtured as they should be by their parents. So paid family leave is an investment in a good and just society, and YOU/we all benefit from that. I'm a 56 year old woman who has never given birth. I have two step-children with my second husband, which we got full custody of six months after we got married (2006). The children were 12-years-old (son) and 14-years old (daughter). How would have my step-children's lives been if I had approached that situation as, "what's in it for me"?
The world will be a better place when we start asking "what I can do for others" more, and worrying about what we're "getting" less.
We also get angry glares and harumphs when we ask to enjoy a meal out or a movie in relative peace and quiet. Or to have an office be a place of business instead of a damned day care.
The cult of the child really has us by the short and curlies.
Edit: Seems like this thread needs this.
