I remember mentioning on the list a few weeks ago that there needs to be daycare available EVERYWHERE that women go. I believe childcare jobs should be performed by trained, qualified personnel. Women are no longer at home all day long being SOLELY professional wives and mothers the way they were in the 19th century….therefore, there will need to be safe, affordable daycare EVERYWHERE that women need to go. I say this because the idea of having day care centers attached to libraries, or to the schools with which they are affiliated, is appealing, but there are still questions of staffing, space, and cost which don’t go away just because we say it’s the responsibility of ”the management of the places where women go.”
Someone does have to pay for these services, regardless of whether you’re talking about a not-for-profit entity or a private business. In the case of the former, it’s the tax-payers, usually, and therefore less obvious and painful, except when the tax bill comes. In the case of the latter, it’s the consumers–including the childless and those who actually can handle their kids, maybe even preferring to have them along rather than in professional day care while they are shopping, who pay. We select the place we do our shopping largely on the basis of price and a place that offered such superfluous day care services would not likely be competitive.
The word “affordable” is a key. What is affordable when you’re living at the limits of your budget anyway? Unless it’s subsidized, there’s no way this day care service is going to be provided by professionals. Drop-in day care is virtually impossible to make into a self-supporting enterprise. I’m puzzled at the idea that children would somehow be better served by spending the whole day going in and out of various professionally-run day care centers than spending time with their parents. Have we really reached the point where our children are so unmanageable that we cannot handle them while shopping in a supermarket, standing in a waiting line at a post office or utility company, etc., so we need to have other people paid to do that for is. If so, the fault lies not in the children or in society, but in ourselves, folks.
There is a downside to practically everything. So if a mother shops her kids off to daycare and does not realize this, she is just not facing reality. I see them racing by me in the morning with their kids all bundled up in their child seats, and I say “I don’t want to go to work, I KNOW that they really don’t.” It’s got to be pure hell parting with those kids every morning, especially to the conditions which you describe. [I am sure there are notable exceptions, of course, but these do not disprove the general rule.]
What would help me as a working mom is fair treatment from politicians and the media. I enjoy my life, and wouldn’t have it any other way, but it would be way cool not to have quite so many people thinking that I am doing something wrong and looking down their noses at me. (1) Quit it with the “it’s better if young children are home with one parent.” Pfui. Americans like the idea better, that’s all. Show me some legitimate research that shows this (there isn’t any). Really, both ways are fine. Kids like daycare and thrive there. Kids like to be at home and thrive there, too.
You are the one having to pay $100 a week for approximately 2 1/2 hours of childcare a week. BUT, if looked at from the daycare provider’s POV, it’s a whole different kettle of fish. In a lot of areas, there is a limit as to how many children you can be responsible for at one time. The last time I used childcare, it was 6 children per adult. So, if there is one person there, they can only have 6 children at a time. That half hour of daycare after school is most likely actually taking up a whole slot for the entire day. So, from the daycare provider’s POV, you will have to pay for the entire slot for the entire day, even if you don’t use all of tho should have explained better what meant by “subsidized” before/afterschool care—you have to refer entire not-for-profit programs that benefit from subsidized supports and thus do not charge “market childcare jobs rates” (such as programs run by the schools themselves, which are great if the school offers them!). I’m intimately familiar with the need-based child care subsidy programs, but no longer qualify.
The reasonable pay for childcare jobs depends on your area — some parts of the east or west coast charge a lot for child care because the cost of living and salaries are significantly higher whereas places in the Deep South or mid-west may charge less because it’s not as expensive to live there and the salaries are generally lower. The adult-child ratio will also affect the average cost — a lower adult-child ratio means that more staff is required which translates to a higher cost for child care. Also, if you’re looking for infant or toddler care (which you are if your child is 18 months old), the cost is usually higher than it would be for a preschooler.
I am preparing myself for the shock of childcare jobs costs, but haven’t a specific number yet. Since it is very early for me to be calling places, I was hoping for some input from others in the group who are closer to using daycare, or who have other children in daycare. I’m hearing $175 a week in Mass for commercial day care centers; $150 for at home moms who can take in up to 6 children in their homes (Mass laws allow for 6 in a home, up to 2 who are children of the provider). Are these numbers in the ballpark? If so, I’m thinking au pair, which I HAVE researched, and that is between $190-205 a week. I think it will be worth the extra money (if it is indeed extra per week – obviously the extra household costs are not included in this figure).
Price does not equal better care. Just because the price is higher does not mean the care is better. Nor can you depend on the appearance of the facility. Of course you want a clean and safe facility but the most important factor is the care giver. You can’t judge a care giver on a short question and answer visit. Nor can you depend on government worker to screen care providers for you. After you narrow your list down you need to take time to drop in at busy hours and observe. Don’t take your child to a facility that won’t allow these parents should always be welcome. Also don’t expect parents using a facility to look at it with a critical eye. Lastly talk about cost. There are many way to reduce cost. If you have a flexible job sometimes you can do some work in trade? Your husband or you might trade some yard or house work to reduce cost. Sometime you can watch the care givers children at nights and weekends in trade.
Some parents are taking advantage of their daycare providers. Numerous parents go through the same cycles. They bring their children to childcare job centers and the first few weeks they have a very difficult time leaving their children, there are tears from both the children and parents. But after getting adjusted the advantage taking begins. Parents start picking up later and later, and dropping off earlier and earlier. They stop feeding their children breakfast in the morning, expectation us to do it. They start showing up without phone calls five to thirty minutes after closing time, with no apologies. Many parents try to fool us and pretend they don’t get off work until five thirty or six o’clock when we know they get off work at three- thirty, why aren’t they spending that valuable time with their children!