Child care costs crippling working parents: Child care costs exceed $20,000 a year in 22 states (solutions, insurance)
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It was zero at my house. I worked two jobs and wife stayed home.
And she handed you your lunch pail in the morning. And if dinner wasn’t on the table when you got home, she’d hear about it. And if the kids disturbed you while you were watching TV in your recliner after a hard day’s work, they’d get the business end of your belt.
Yeah, those were the good ol’ days. Silly career moms... jobs are for dudes.
When I was a kid, in the 50s, neighbors took care of the kids.
When I was a mom, in the 80s, I took my child to a loving, wonderful neighbor who sometimes had over 9(!) kids running in and out of her house. My child loved her, I found her from friend who gave her raving reviews. She didn't have a "approved" day-care center, it was her house. She had no problems hugging the kids. She fed them lunch, she make good money, she had no employees.
Now, daycare consists of very expensive buildings with minimum wage, high-turnover kids who have a very hands-off attitude, that costs a fortune. There are all kids of government-regulated requirements that are completely unnecessary and that only add to the cost. And my grandkids come home in a bad mood, stressed out from daycare!
If it was a truly free market system, we could have amateur, experienced moms charging $5/hour for five or eight kids, and everyone would be happy. If they were not good caregivers, they would not have customers.
There is no shortage of in-home daycare, operating with or without a license.
Where we are, $20,000 would be dirt cheap for childcare. The very bottom of the barrel garbage daycare is easily $2000 per month, and expect to pay more if you have two kids or more. This is why millennials get so frustrated with Boomers and even some GenXers for chastising us for not following tradition when it comes to life. Boomers were never saddled with as much cost for college education as millennials are. 2008 hit our age group the hardest and was the worst recession since the great depression. Housing costs have skyrocketed in many areas of the country and now you want us to pop out kids like it is easy to say $2000-3000 per month for childcare. Childcare is so expensive here middle class families have resorted to hiring full time live in au pairs for $30,000-40,000 per year because it ends up costing the same or is cheaper than daycare.
I live in a low COL area, but child care costs more than state university. With 2 in daycare, we were paying nearly $30k/year.
Church-based and at-home care can cost a little less, but they are regulated differently and don't provide the oversight and child protections that centers do. I'm not going to put my children at risk to save a buck. And yeah, just TRY to work from home with a needy, demanding toddler.
The kicker is that the actual providers don't see the money that we pay in annual increases. They are paid very little for the amount of work they do and effort they put in.
There were years where I had basically no take-home pay after taxes, deductions, and child care costs. However, I contributed to my 401k & got the company matching, so in the long term I think it will be the right financial move, not to mention the professional gains.
Yes... I agree.. Lots of assumptions to facilitate a rant.
It's been over 15 years since I've had a kid in daycare but in my experience, the OP's assumptions are fairly accurate. Costs were outrageous back then, including the late fees the OP describes.
I couldn't imagine how much worse it is now..... except I can.......my Grandson's daycare is over $350.00 a week and he's not even there all day.
It's been over 15 years since I've had a kid in daycare but in my experience, the OP's assumptions are fairly accurate. Costs were outrageous back then, including the late fees the OP describes.
I couldn't imagine how much worse it is now..... except I can.......my Grandson's daycare is over $350.00 a week and he's not even there all day.
That's more than his parents mortgage payment is.
Well considering that my kids just got out of day care in one of the highest COL area in the nation, I think I know what cost of daycare is. But you missed almost the entire OPs post... or misread or something... The assumptions in the OPs post go way further than the cost....
Looks like they want the "child care model to be changed". That seems to be just another way of saying they want free and drastically reduced prices for childcare and the government pays the rest.
Seems like liberals want 22 or 23 years of government-paid education programs as opposed to the current 13 years.
Interesting, how it doesn't seem two-parents working full-time with megacommutes and big child care expenses isn't the utopia as promised.
Rather then 13 years of schooling paid for by government, liberals seem to advocate birth thru college for free which would mean 22+ years paid for by government.
Since day-care and universities are more expensive this would require the educational component of taxes to nearly double from the already extreme expenses
They haven't seen anything yet, minimum wages are set to skyrocket in many states and supposedly child care worker wages tend to be several dollars over the minimum wage.
I know right? How dare working people insist on being able to earn enough pay their bills AND keep their children in affordable, safe childcare while they're doing it!
I truly do not understand Republican opposition to raising minimum wage. Is it some superiority complex? The "my job is better than the Mc Donald's cashier because it pays $X more than they earn?" Employers make a profit from employees. They should pay for their labors. Workers who earn more can pay their bills. If they can pay their bills, they can put their children in decent childcare. It isn't difficult.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lovecrowds
There is also lots of parents out there only paying a few dollars a day for childcare and the government takes care of the rest, which means that supply plummets from all the welfare payments which means child-care centers can charge as much as they want for middle-class parents.
Um, no. That's not the way it works. The employees who receive subsidized childcare get it because they are low income. Because their job doesn't pay much. Because you insist that employers shouldn't have to raise the minimum wage so parents can pay for childcare themselves. Do you get it now?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lovecrowds
Supposedly, many centers charge a dollar a minute after 6pm which means if a parent is stuck in traffic like many cities that they run up a big tab for being late.
And she handed you your lunch pail in the morning. And if dinner wasn’t on the table when you got home, she’d hear about it. And if the kids disturbed you while you were watching TV in your recliner after a hard day’s work, they’d get the business end of your belt.
Yeah, those were the good ol’ days. Silly career moms... jobs are for dudes.
Typical kneejerk response to a SOLUTION to a problem.
It very easily could've said: The wife worked 2 jobs and the dad stayed home. Which, I'm sure you would've RAVED about, and then crucified the guy for being to lazy to get a job and making his wife work.
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