[harph]

When my wife was staying home with our son until he was 3yo, I got to write that into my tax returns and I got a tax bonus. A not working wife + a child = I didn't pay any tax and even got some money back from the government.

I'm not sure how it would work if we were not married. Would probably involve some more bureaucracy.

An of course, as you say, it's easier to handle child bureaucracy when married.