THOUGHTS ON REASONS FOR PARENTAL LEAVE...

If I were the Prime Minister I would financially support parents for the first three years of their child's life.

It seems to make sense to allow the mother to care for her baby for the first year for the following reasons:
*  It takes the body nine months to adjust to and accommodate a new life;
    give yourself at least that much time for the body to re- adjust itself
    again.
*  Breastfeeding allows the uterus to contract to (nearly) its previous size,
    while hormones are triggered to do whatever they need to do to make
    the body function as it should.
*  The other three months can be used to wean the baby and exercise to
    get oneself back  'in control' again of one's own body.
*  It provides opportunity to get to know this new person, oneself and
    one's partner in this new configuration of relationships.

Incidentally, contrary to what many people think, it is NOT a good idea to start exercising, as if training for a marathon, shortly after giving birth.
There is a time and a season for everything, even the soil needs time to lay fallow.
This also relates to growing a baby, nurturing a baby, nurturing one's body, nurturing one's relationship with one's partner ....because, while attention is paid to the physical well being of all, providing one doesn't rush around like a blowfly on a summer's day, the pace of this process allows one's soul to ponder on the irreversible situation of having accepted the responsibility of a new life....
The father is the great protector of the environment around the mother-and-the-child....this is how nature has set it up (read the mythologies!) and it seems a good system if we adjust the society we build around these needs.

Over the next two years caring for the child can be shared by parents, e.g taking turns with job commitments, grandparents or a very trusted other person. Parental leave is therefor  v e r y  important!
That's what I would legislate for if I were the Prime Minister....

The sages of old and many who have lived more than half a century, will tell you that the purpose of life is not to be happy, but to grow spiritually.
Getting stressed over achieving one's personal goals in record time while being 'interrupted' by a new arrival, defeats the purpose in one's own mental and emotional growth, "there is a time and season for everything...".Nature doesn't hurry.

Nature doesn't exclude being happy, but it does mean that chasing happiness is futile and illusive. Happiness is experienced in the Now and one can't be aware of the Here-and-Now when pre-occupied with the future.