 |
| They
say 1 picture is worth 1000 words. MONTHS OF MATERNITY
LEAVE ! This
picture speaks for itself. |
WORLD's POPULATION GROWTH:
The highest
growth typically occurs in under-developed and educationally/politically retrograde
countries.
If population growth stagnates in Western
developed countries (to the point where some are losing population -negative
growth- such is the case of Spain, Italy, Sweden, Russia and others), then in
a matter of decades we might be swamped by masses of impoverished and uneducated
Immigrants, whom may affect negatively our modern cultures and our way of life.
Well, big deal! -you might
say. That is not the future. That is already happening! And
our civilization has not changed that much.
It has not happened -yet- my friend!
Yes, there has been massive waves of refugees and economic-immigrants moving into the
western world. But the percentages have been relatively small on a
year-per-year basis. At those rates, foreign cultures are properly assimilated,
and the diversity they create may bring more benefits that problems.
But think about of the cultural and economic
impact if these waves of immigrants, if instead of arriving in a country with
many millions of inhabitants and growing, would arrive in a country with a
lesser population and losing million of natives yearly because of negative
population growth. The impact might not
be disastrous (depending on the culture and education of the newcomers), but it
can not be very benign either.
Picture: Poor peasant family in Nepal. And yet
probably this mother gives more quality time to her children than many
Americans mothers do (from National Geographic Magazine).
First of all, you will have millions of displaced
people, trying to adjust to a new language and culture, and missing dearly their
families and life left behind. Then the impact on local natives having
difficulty communicating for many years to come with a significant percentage of
the newly arrived population. Then you have the discrimination -fair and
unfair- that is bound to happen... and so on and so forth.
DISCIPLINE AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
: To make a summary of my points, I would state
that:
- It is imperative that we control GLOBAL
population growth at the earliest.
- Controlling global population growth does not
mean to do this by allowing the excess population in some countries to
emigrate in massive numbers to those other countries which managed to
control their population.
- When developed countries act too drastically
in their family planning system, and achieve zero growth -or
reverse growth- too soon, they might be creating a social vacuum that
would only promote other under-developed countries to be more
irresponsible.
- It
is -therefore- ironic and unfair that those countries that should be
rewarded for their social responsibility, discipline, and foresight, are
instead being penalized and put under international pressure to absorb huge
number of aliens.
- There might be a temporary economic benefit,
but the long term effects have an immeasurable social cost in quality of
life lost. First for the Immigrant who who has to abandon his
homeland, his culture, and his family. Secondly, for the invaded host
country whose citizens will have to make significant cultural adjustments as
well.
AN IMMIGRANT's POSITION ON
IMMIGRATION:
With
the world's oil fields moving fast toward depletion, and with energy
resources dwindling even faster in our country, we should allow immigration only
because of compassion, not because of perceived economic benefits to our society!
==============
Mongolians paying a lot of attention and care to their
children. Interestingly most here are men (National Geographic).
|
Now we can talk about
Maternity Leave!!!
Without that Preamble on immigration that I did on the
previous paragraphs of this page, you would probably not be able to understand
my strong position on Maternity Leave, Child Care, Vacations,
Living Wage, and other social
issues.
Hence, after having covered those points on
population growth above, I can now say, that I strongly believe that the Western
world civilizations should be entitled to have enough children per family so as
to keep their populations stable, or even with a slight growth rate (3 or 4
children per couple of parents would be proper, more than 4 or less than 3 might not be
ideal). Governments
in these Western countries should promote a reasonable family size. Once the world
were to attain a global zero-or-negative growth is that
emphasis on reducing further family size in Western countries should be promoted,
but not sooner.
|
|
It follows from my statements above, that if
we want our American females to be mothers of 3 or 4 children on the average (and not 1 or none as it is the case
now) then we will have to be more supportive
to parents, and in particular to mothers.
Because of their maternal instinct, many females
would like to have several children, but that is economically painful, and -more
than that- it is outright stressful. In countries like Sweden mothers
enjoy 90 weeks of maternity leave (see table above). That means they do
not have to go back to work until their child is one and a half years
old. Even Mexico and Brazil mothers are entitled to 3 months of
maternity leave.
|
Childcare in mainland China. (National Geographic
magazine) |
|
It is unbelievable that in the USA mothers who
take maternity leave will have to do it on their own, there is no guarantee that
their jobs will be saved for them, even for a couple of weeks. Forget
about any maternity benefits, other than the medical coverage -if they have
it. I know, some employers are somewhat more generous, but there is
not Federal law obligating them to do so. They do it as a favor to their
employees, or as a gesture of goodwill and social responsibility. And only if
they feel like they can afford it.
Some egocentrics would say, WAIT
A SECOND! I do not want to have children. And I do not want to be
taxed, so others can have more children.
My reply to them would be:
 | You are entitled to be a responsible citizen, and share all the joys and the
huge burden of parenting and nation building! Of course, it is your prerogative to
have or not to have children. Maybe you cannot have them because of a
medical, or a fertility problem. Perhaps you waited too long to get
married
trying to enjoy your celibacy too much, or trying to extend your intimate
sex-life with your spouse too long without intromissions by children. |
| As a father, I find parenting a joyful and fulfilling
experience. Having said so, I must also confess that there is pain and
guilt in my heart due to family relations that went awry. If I were
celibate and without children -statistics say- I would live longer. Parental
responsibilities are stressful. |
| Being
a parent is a long-term social responsibility that would ask from you to have
drastic changes in your way of life once you make that commitment. |
| If you do not want have children fine!
But somebody will have to have
them in order for you to have Social Security retirement benefits. And in order
for our society to continue functioning. If
every person in the country opted for your same egoistic type of life, we would
not have an American society in a couple of generations. |
| I do not think I need to say
much more, to justify my position on why the
Government has to make sure that the society has the incentives and the protection
to the family, that would promote to have children. And -most importantly- not just to have
children, but having them in an environment that is supportive enough that
these children can grow up physically and mentally healthy, and with a minimum of psychological
hang-ups. |
|
|
Children who ...
| Never see their parents at home,
because their parents are -both- too busy making money |
| Have been left -too soon- in the hands of child
care providers, instead of the care of a loving mother |
| Do not recall having spent quality time
on a resort with their parents, because they never had vacations |
| Never saw a father, because the mother
egoistically thought being single-mother was fine |
| Are mistreated, because of ignorance,
abuse or neglect |
| Are ignored -or not loved enough-
perhaps because they were born by accident |
Those
children are likely to have social dysfunctions, or -at best- great pain in their hearts
as they grow into adulthood. Not conjectures on my part, those are
facts!
|
Child care in Russia. Potty training time.
(National Geographic magazine). |
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Editor: JX |
|
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