childcare cost

P

paperclip

Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
459
Reaction score
0
*To clarify, I am NOT pregnant, nor do I intend on being pregnant anytime soon.*

I was wondering on people's experiences in terms of working after the birth of the child/children and who cared for their children after they returned to work. From what I'm reading, childcare is fairly expensive and it seems like having a stay-a-home parent may be a good choice in some cases, depending on the income of the parents. What were your experiences and is there anything you would have done differently?

The reason I'm asking this question is because I want to be slightly selective about my future job (I'm still a student) so that I can have a reasonable maternity leave experience and take advantage of any childcare programs offered by a company. I like the idea of being a stay-at-home mom for the first 2 years, but economically, I don't think it would be possible.

Thanks!
 
paperclip said:
*To clarify, I am NOT pregnant, nor do I intend on being pregnant anytime soon.*

I was wondering on people's experiences in terms of working after the birth of the child/children and who cared for their children after they returned to work. From what I'm reading, childcare is fairly expensive and it seems like having a stay-a-home parent may be a good choice in some cases, depending on the income of the parents. What were your experiences and is there anything you would have done differently?

The reason I'm asking this question is because I want to be slightly selective about my future job (I'm still a student) so that I can have a reasonable maternity leave experience and take advantage of any childcare programs offered by a company. I like the idea of being a stay-at-home mom for the first 2 years, but economically, I don't think it would be possible.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

that's why it's nice to have extended families around. My friend and his wife are both working parents. They have a son and my friend drops him off at his parents' house before going to work.

It will be same for me. This is typical in Asian families. We families take care of each other. I think childcare thing is a foreign concept to Asian people :lol:

You can simply check out your prospective employer's company policy regarding maternity leave and childcare program. In America, the maternity leave is 3 months. In Canada, it's 1 year.
 
Having a support network set up in place before having kids is a good thing. The more prepared you are to handle the financial burden of children and daycare, the more you can afford to stay home. If you are planning to have kids and think daycare is going to be likely, start a savings account for daycare expenses now.
 
It is good that you are thinking ahead.

When my son was an infant, it was about $10k/year for his daycare. As he has gotten older, that figure has dropped. Right now, for before/after school care, holiday camp, etc. it's probably $5k/year.

When I was growing up, I never expected that someone else would raise my child. Then again, I never thought I'd have a kid; I figured I'd just have dogs.

We have no family in town on a regular basis. Most of our friends do not have kids or have college-age+ kids. It is very challenging without a support system.

When my son was 3 & under, he commuted with me. Daycare was just across the street and that was comforting. I could run over at lunch and see him.

When he was almost 3 & went to public preschool in addition to daycare, I had to move him to a different daycare so the school bus could get him. What was hard was that I could be up to an hour away. When he needed to be picked up for illness/injury, etc I didn't like being so far.

However, the good thing about the location change was: this is when my husband got involved. We do the same routine now: dad gets him ready in the a.m. & I pick up in the afternoon. Less burden on me, more dad-time.

My husband has a job that is rather inflexible about being able to take time off and he doesn't have much sick/vacation time. My job however, is incredibly flexible & I have a lot of sick/vacation time. I'm almost always the one who has to leave work to pick up DS, or to take time off for his appointments, etc.

My maternity leave wasn't paid 3 months. It was about paid 8 weeks, plus an extra week for a c-section. Under FMLA, I could stay out for 12 weeks before they *could* not let me come back to my exact job. I had saved that year's profit sharing money to cover expenses the 4 weeks of unpaid time I took.

My employer offers a childcare savings account, where you can have pre-tax money taken from your paycheck and put aside. Then, you apply for reimbursement of your daycare expenses. For me, it was a pain & not worth the small reduction in taxable income.

As a very social only child, DS thrives on being with other kids all day at daycare or school. When he was about 1, he'd grab the doorjamb and scream as I tried to take him home from daycare; he just didn't want to leave his friends. Even now, when I could pick him up early, I usually let him stay til almost the end of the day, as he'd rather play. I often go sit & watch him interact with the other kids, but he rarely wants to leave til they're turning off the lights.
 
I have read an article at once or perhaps twice in the past. A Daycare has pros and cons. Some pros are: good to be socialized, not being alone, and adapt the new environment with new cultures. Some cons are: some kids forgot their parents' face (OMG), too young to be "independent", and not used to custom in some kind of bullying - not the right word for this one and especially kindergarden. Hope that helps.
 
Jiro said:
that's why it's nice to have extended families around. My friend and his wife are both working parents. They have a son and my friend drops him off at his parents' house before going to work.

It will be same for me. This is typical in Asian families. We families take care of each other. I think childcare thing is a foreign concept to Asian people :lol:

You can simply check out your prospective employer's company policy regarding maternity leave and childcare program. In America, the maternity leave is 3 months. In Canada, it's 1 year.
Click to expand...

That's where I was extremely lucky with both of my children despite them having different fathers. I really lucked out to pick men whose mothers didnt work.

My ex hubby and I didnt plan on having a child until I was done with college but while I was an undergrad student, I got pregnant (surprise pregnancy yep but I was married for 3 years at the time) so I freaked out about whether I should continue with schooling with a baby due to childcare costs. My ex said his mom will watch our baby whenever I was in classes so it worked out great. When we moved to the DC area when my daughter was 2 1/2, that was when we had to start paying for daycare costs. For my daughter who was still in diapers, it was about $1,000 a month and then it went down as soon as she got potty trained. We managed to be able to pay for it despite the fact that I was a full time grad student at Gallaudet Unviersity. Somehow we found a way.

Then, later on..I got pregnant again with my current hubby's baby. This time, the both of us had careers so money wasnt the problem. My problem was the idea of leaving my son who was only 6 weeks old at the time with strangers so his mother took care of him every day for at least 10 hours a day 5 times a week for 2 years. We dint pay her..then, she got tired of it so we had to look for a daycare for him. He was still in diapers and ironically daycare costs were cheaper here in MD than they were in AZ. The first one was $800 a month.

After he got out of diapers, the cost reduced to $400 a month.

Now, he is in kindergarten but I still need to pay for before and after school care...still $400 a month now.

Been paying for daycare or before/after school care costs for like 12 years now...I am ready to be done with that. lol

People always find a way to pay for daycare costs. I did while I was a full time student. Yes, money was always tight but we always managed.
 
webexplorer said:
I have read an article at once or perhaps twice in the past. A Daycare has pros and cons. Some pros are: good to be socialized, not being alone, and adapt the new environment with new cultures. Some cons are: some kids forgot their parents' face (OMG), too young to be "independent", and not used to custom in some kind of bullying - not the right word for this one and especially kindergarden. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Jiminy Cricket...:shock:...how long they leave child?
 
As a person who works in Daycare it is incredibly expensive!!
 
I wish I had the option of being a stay-at-home mother...I feel so guilty about working outside the home, especially when they are babies. Sigh. I don't judge mothers who want a career outside the home...it's a very personal choice. Some of us don't have the luxury of choosing, though. :(
 
some daycare have child care connection programs to get discount if you are eligible.... I didn't have my daughter in daycare until she was after 18 months old.... She loves it there. but yes there are pros and cons its a huge decision making. best of luck! :)
 
ahh Its a long list. lol my hub and i both are working. i like to be working like always since I was 13. I can skip my work to be with kids when i can. Id love to be a housewife but it isn't me.
I learn something about this that i should have stayed close to my family so i would have a better support system. So it's our own to have daycare. Kids are in school but after school we still have to pay some for kids. In a couple of years, if my oldest daughter is ready to watch after my boy then it will be a daycare freeeee.
 
Lissa said:
As a person who works in Daycare it is incredibly expensive!!
Click to expand...

Yup, and yet they do not pay their teachers enough. Which is why I left teaching pre school VPK and moved on to another career.
 
webexplorer said:
I have read an article at once or perhaps twice in the past. A Daycare has pros and cons. Some pros are: good to be socialized, not being alone, and adapt the new environment with new cultures. Some cons are: some kids forgot their parents' face (OMG), too young to be "independent", and not used to custom in some kind of bullying - not the right word for this one and especially kindergarden. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...


I worked in a child care setting for 10 years. I have never seen a child forget their parents face. If anything, they get real excited when they see their parents, some get so excited that they cry when their parents come and get them.
 
Babyblue said:
I worked in a child care setting for 10 years. I have never seen a child forget their parents face. If anything, they get real excited when they see their parents, some get so excited that they cry when their parents come and get them.
Click to expand...

That's good to know. I think that the worse part of dealing is the cryings.

How do you deal with the germs everywhere in the rooms such as walls, chairs, doorknobs, books and toys? Do you use heavy chemicals to kill the germs? I have read some articles not related to daycare that the germs can subborned staying alive until friendly chemicals can kill them slowly which is so mystery.
 
webexplorer said:
That's good to know. I think that the worse part of dealing is the cryings.

How do you deal with the germs everywhere in the rooms such as walls, chairs, doorknobs, books and toys? Do you use heavy chemicals to kill the germs? I have read some articles not related to daycare that the germs can subborned staying alive until friendly chemicals can kill them slowly which is so mystery.
Click to expand...

Bleach water is what we used. Lysol worked as well. Constantly cleaning, and wipping.

Bleach water is safe to use if you do it right, and not use too much bleach.

You learn to work with upset children, and redirect them. Believe it or not it is not a hard thing. Most children stop crying and start playing as soon as the Parents leave.
 
webexplorer said:
That's good to know. I think that the worse part of dealing is the cryings.

How do you deal with the germs everywhere in the rooms such as walls, chairs, doorknobs, books and toys? Do you use heavy chemicals to kill the germs? I have read some articles not related to daycare that the germs can subborned staying alive until friendly chemicals can kill them slowly which is so mystery.
Click to expand...

It's actually healthier to leave some germs lying around to ensure your immune system builds up resistance to them. People get colds more often in the wintertime because of lack of fresh air and dry air makes germs more airborne.

I'm anti-bleach because it's full of toxic chemicals and very bad for the environment. What I do use instead is plain vinegar or lemon juice often mixed in with baking soda depending on what kind of cleaning I'm doing. I use table salt for disinfecting things like the cutting board if it was exposed to raw meat. Table salt is also good as an abrasive in addition to club soda.
 
I had a friend of a co-worker who was certified by the county as a home daycare operator. Hubby and I went and toured her place and fell in love with the care and attention. When my daughter born and after I went back to work (6 weeks) she went to this lady's house. **Please do not take this wrong and I am not prejudiced at all** My daughter was the only white child there and got some of the best care ever. When daughter turned 1 year old, the babysitter made a video of her throughout the day of what she did. Just to see her learning to walk and everything was wonderful. When my son came along, she didn't charge me for him at all and he was happier than a clam there.

Everything was clean and disinfected daily. Kids got to have play time both indoors and outdoors. 2 naps a day, lunch and 2 snacks that we parents had to provide in diaper bag. I tended to buy what was needed for the week and left it with her. That included diapers, wipes, formula, and whatever else was needed at the time. I always had enough that the 2 kids whose parents did not have much for their kids at all, were fed while there. They also had plenty of diapers if needed.

My daughter loved the lady's son and would be so excited when he got home from school. She would crawl or toddle to the door looking for "Uner". (She couldn't say Junior)

When we moved back to Florida, I wanted to see this lady again, but sadly, her husband retired and their 2 kids both finished college and they moved back to Jamaica.
 
Did anyone work a different shift from their spouse/partner to minimize childcare expenses?

I appreciate everyone's response so far! Thanks!
 
Back
Top