I learned of the Danish education and day care system on a field study headed by Kim Nielsen, a Danish International Studies professor. The state of Denmark supports individuals in their country from the time before they are born. They do this by providing a mother-to-be with a maternity leave beginning 4 weeks before the baby is due. After the baby is born, the mother has 26 weeks of full-paid maternity leave. After this time, the mother can receive an additional 2 months of maternity leave with half pay. The father of the newborn can receive 2 weeks maternity leave. If the mother has a very demanding job and must get back to work she can do this and give half of her maternity leave to the father of the child.