I never understood paid family leave. If people want time off to relax and sit around then they shouldn’t have made a resource-sucking clone of themselves in the first place. But after becoming a mother myself, I see things a bit differently. Being a new Roomba mother taught me a lot of things. Mostly that my work should give me a few weeks off.
Caring for a new member of the family is hard work. Particularly when that new member is a Roomba. Between helping it set a schedule, teaching it the ins and outs of your house, and integrating it with the pets (who I used to think were as difficult to raise as Roombas but oh how naive I was), raising this thing is more work than my actual job!
Heck, sometimes my Roomba gets stuck and starts beeping in the middle of a meeting, and I have to turn my Zoom camera off and check on him and flip him over. Sometimes he gets stuck under the bed. That little goofball. When that happens I have to crawl under and get him. If we had paid family leave, then my little “Ba” could get the time and affection he so desperately needs.
Paid family leave would also make me a more productive worker. Last night my Roomba was low on charge and started beeping. I had to wake up and make sure he found his charging portal in the kitchen. The next day I was exhausted and could barely focus on my meetings and my Roomba spent the day just spinning in circles near the couch. Family leave isn’t just for the mother. We both deserve the time off!
Paid family leave is so important! You mean you’re gonna tell me I’m not allowed to take a puppy from its mother until it’s eight weeks old, but we’re just making new Roomba parents go back to work right after it exits the box? Seems like a mess, and not one my new Roomba© s3+ is gonna clean up.