Kids are great, future of humanity and all that (at least some of them), but I cannot wrap my head around why businesses should have to fund them directly. I co

Kids are great, future of humanity and all that (at least some of them), but I cannot wrap my head around why businesses should have to fund them directly. I could understand subsidising this in some other way - maybe tax breaks/refunds, or banks providing more lucrative savings/investment options for future parents. I get that people want everything, and they want it yesterday. They also don't want to have to make choices, and certainly don't want to have to plan too far ahead. But really, if you can't survive on one income for a year, then you're not financially secure enough to support one or more children. The problem that paid parental leave is trying to solve isn't a short-term money problem, it's a long-term, generation-wide pattern of financial irresponsibility. The old 'teach a man to fish' adage sums this up pretty nicely I think. I'm genuinely in favour of supporting parents and encouraging people to have babies, after all I'm going to need someone to sponge bath me after I soil myself and forget who I am when I'm 80. I just don't understand why this is considered the 'right' way to do it.