Paternity Leave in the U.S.: How Much Paternity Leave Did You Take, Dads? by Mike Prochaska

Did you take parental leave when your children were born? When my daughter was born I only took a week, but wish I had taken more time to help my wife. When my son was born I only took a few days because I felt I had to go back to work. I knew I was going to quit my job when my wife went back to work to be a stay-at-home parent, but I was keeping that on the down low because I didn't want anyone to know. 

There was no way realistically we could afford daycare for two children, as our daughter was 2 when our son was born – and my company didn't offer any real parental leave. I just said I wasn't coming work and they understood, but there was no parental leave program. Did you know...

• Only 7 in 10 U.S. fathers taking paternity leave took 10 days of leave or less, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
• Less than 20 percent of U.S. employers offer paid paternity leave, according to 2015 survey findings from the Society for Human Resource.

I’m hoping that in the future there will be parental leave for both moms and dads in our country. America is one of the few countries that has the worst laws for parental leave. I was hoping Ivanka Trump was going to lead our county down this road.