what do childfree/childless people get instead of "parental leave?"

[TheKentuckian]

526. I guess I think it should be expanded. I was my uncle's primary caretaker and any time taken off

to get him to the doctor or other appointments and even for his funeral when that time came was squeezed out of vacation time or had to be made up if I could arrange that.

It isn't what the time is used for that is the problem but the dictation of the value of our connection to another person that is a problem. My uncle was as close to a father as I had and he had no one else to care for him, that relationship should not have been blown off. I couldn't even get a bereavement day to bury a man who helped raise me and who I cared for when he got up in years and sick, I resent society for blowing off that relationship to be honest.

Same goes for friends in my opinion too and certainly no one should have to get married to care for their mate, if you are legitimately providing care for someone sick then it should be eligible for paid leave.

I've got a life long friend that is still unmarried and unlikely to have children, who is going to be there for him? As far as I'm concerned that man is my brother we have been friends since we were children, would it be vacation to help him through chemo? Apparently so in many people's eyes.

I also after some thought have no opposition to folks using some time to do real and documented community service if they don't have obligations in that vein the help is often desperately needed. Working on a house for Habitat for Humanity or feeding folks at the soup kitchen or tutoring kids has societal value.

Let's call it Family and Community Leave and make it as comprehensive as our real world connections to each other. It seems the right thing to do to me. If the leave is for the benefit of another it seems to me to be in line with with the original concept but with a little bit of a broader view.