Certainly could, I just finished doing that for my kid. Which still doesn't answer the question of how it benefits society to push parents back into the workfor

Certainly could, I just finished doing that for my kid. Which still doesn't answer the question of how it benefits society to push parents back into the workforce after birth of a child. The entire "opportunity cost" argument here is focused on the parent's ability to maximize wages or skills, in reality there are other "costs".