ENG 103
March 25th, 2014
There is about a six week to six month period right after a child is born where forming a bond with your child is quite significant. This period of time will help the child with setting a certain healthy routine, getting the house set for the child, and adjusting to the new life in the household. The value of having both parents by the child’s side can make a difference in how the child is raised or even how the child may perceive their own life. There has been occurrences where people feel worthless without one parent in their life. The bond that you create with your family in those six weeks or so is important to uphold and will make for stronger families. Those children that have been through divorces or not even knowing who one parent is in the first place may be pressed with difficulties in their life. In “Leave Practices of Parents after the Birth or Adoption of Young Children” it is explained, “Children whose mothers did not report taking any leave (10% of the total) were more likely to be from a lone-parent family.” I was raised by a single mother and when I was born my mother did not take any leave from work or school. She had me on the weekend and was back on a Tuesday. I was raised mostly by my grandmother at the beginning of my life. Growing up without a father has always been a difficult obstacle for me to overcome. When I was younger I could never understand why it seemed like everyone else had something I could never have. There have been men who come into my life and try to fill the role of a father to me, but there is always still a void. There is not a day in my life that I don’t think about my father: who he is, how he looks, or if I have brothers and sisters. Many people that I have come by in my life have a bond with their father that seems unrealistic to me because it is unattainable. Even though I do not have a father, I can tell that bond is extremely important. Paid paternity leave is an