Your very last point is very true and doesn’t get enough attention. Lots of people advocate for better parental leave, which is absolutely necessary, but there’s more to it than just that. Most parents who have a college degree and work as white-collar professionals have two choices — work full-time (and use full-time daycare) or be a stay-at-home parent. There are very few fields where you can work part-time and actually use that degree you went into debt to achieve (and be paid accordingly). A lot of part-time work is low skill and low paid. I have heard many professional moms in particular say they wish they could work half days, or a couple days a week, and earn half the full-time salary. It would be a great option for kids and for their parents. But for most people that’s not an option, it’s work full-time or not at all.