As an American mom, I know building a village in the US is tough. At times, I wish we'd take notes from countries like Sweden. Getty Images; Tyler Le/BI

My husband and I had our first fight about childcare before our baby was even born. His small company offered four weeks of paid leave, and he'd be the very first employee to use it. The details were fuzzy, but my position was unequivocal: TAKE ALL OF IT.

He still hesitated, wondering aloud why the company, or his coworkers, should subsidize his leave for what was ultimately a personal decision to have a child .

I was shocked — these words coming from the mouth of an Englishman — a man deeply proud of the National Health Service, a publicly funded system built on the idea of collective responsibility for care.…