Daycare Soap Box

Over the years, I've learned that daycare facilities hide what it costs to send your child to their facility until you're about to sign the dotted line. So, I find myself randomly googling daycare pricing facts, hoping that some place has broken the mold and made their costs available online, or, that some awesome blogger posted the information themselves.

Having spent two years working in a swanky daycare facility and spending time nannying, I understand what high price day care can get you and what it realistically costs to have someone care for your child while you're at work. Now, I know that I cannot afford the swanky facility in which I worked (you'd be surprised to know that my pay at this facility did not mirror what the parents paid in tuition) and realistically understand that it's the price of daycare that is wedging itself between my husband and I having a child. I also know that I am not comfortable with home daycare facilities and I disagree with nannying when you have only one child. While googling tonight, I came across this article from care.com:


http://www.care.com/child-care-nanny-cost-p1145-q83979.html

The Nanny Guide: Nanny Cost

Find out about pay rates for nannies

Christine Koh, Care.com contributing writer   |    27 Comments

This article was really honest and interesting as far as what parents should expect to pay for an in-home daycare provider and understanding that you get what you pay for. I was DISGUSTED with how many parents talk about negotiating lower rates with nannies, how they simply cannot afford what they know they should pay a nanny, etc. This would not fly at any of these people's jobs. Being told that your boss knows that you deserve $16 an hour, but I can only give you $10 to do the same work, and claiming that a nanny who declines that job is "only in it for the money" is ridiculous. Everyone has bills/financial commitments. If you can't pay the proper amount for a job, then that means you cannot have the work done. If I can't afford to pay a landscaper the $500 I'm supposed to give them for a job, then I do the work myself, or it doesn't happen. If you can't afford what it costs to care for a child, then you CAN'T AFFORD to have a/nother kid. Be responsible about your finances. You know what you can/can't afford. If you know $1000 a month isn't in the budget to care for your child while you're at work, be responsible and wait until you have that money.

I dislike that my husband and I keep putting off having a child, but, I can only imagine how challenging our lives would be if we just had a kid because we want one, without factoring in the financial responsibility of caring for that child when I go back to work. It seems extremely irresponsible to have children all willy-nilly (because you need 4 kids....please, the world is overpopulated enough as it is AND there aren't enough jobs in the world either) without factoring in what the household budget can handle. I don't want to fight with my husband about what we can/can't afford because we just HAD to have our child now. It would be selfish of us to bring a child into the world, knowing we can't afford care for him/her in our absence. I wish other people would start seeing it that way. Kids don't deserve low-end daycare and shouldn't be exposed to their parents fighting about money/experiencing stress because they had more kids than the household budget can afford. Just make responsible decisions. The financial choice to have a child is similar to other big financial decisions, such as a house. You need to budget for more than just diapers and this financial investment is much more permanent than a house.