I get so sad every time when someone describes how things work in US. First 3 years are crucial in development of a child and it makes such a huge difference i

I get so sad every time when someone describes how things work in US. First 3 years are crucial in development of a child and it makes such a huge difference if the baby/child has an attention, love and contact with her parents 24/7 - or, if she spends day laying in an understaffed daycare with very little incentives to develop her. Just for comparison, my country (Czech Republic) provides: * 28 weeks of paid leave that start 6-8 weeks before expected birth date, with a payment roughly similar to average of mothers last year's net salary. * Birth itself is covered by state insurance. 2-4 years long maternal leave where (any) parent gets a fixed sum of cca 11 average monthly salaries (distributed over the maternal leave period). * During the above time, state also pays parent's health insurance. * Also, employer has to ensure that parent can return to his/her position as long as the leave is shorter than 3 years. You might think that this is expensive, but I see it as an investment in giving children healthy start full of attention and love, no matter their family's situation.