Tough Times: Parents Ditching Daycare
photo credit: Axel Bührmann
The Issue: More children left home alone to fend for themselves by working parents too strapped to afford child care.
This article was written a few months ago but it speaks to some of the concerns I have as we think about starting a family. Parents are now forced to reconsider whether or not they can send their children to daycare because they are having a hard time paying for it. As a result, some daycare centers are concerned that parents might be opting for unlicensed daycare centers, putting their children at risk of being in unsafe situations.
I can’t imagine what it must feel like to have to make these hard decisions around childcare, I’m almost certain it would drive me batty because I already don’t trust daycare, at home or the daycare centers, but that’s another post. The man and I have decided that when the time comes we will get an au pair/live in nanny. I hope it’ll never come to this, having to make hard decisions about working and placing my kid in a not so safe environment. I’d quit, downsize and stay home before that happens.
With childcare here in the DC Metro area looming around $1500/month for one child, I can totally understand. That’s damn near a mortgage payment and more than rent for some. I know there are vouchers but some parents are having problems just making their copayments. What should they do? How do they get relief in this area when everyone is feeling the pinch right now?
What about you? Have you had to make hard decisions around childcare? If so, what are your choices and did it work out?
I wrote about this at MYC when this article came out. There's a restaurant in town that I enjoy and one evening at dinner, the cops came in and arrested my waitress. She could no longer afford daycare, so she had her children in the car while she was in at work. She had a portable DVD player and movies for the kids to watch, blankets, food, drinks, and she went out and checked on them every 15 minutes. But, someone had called the cops on her.
I don't envy parents who're paying for daycare. I'm with you on not trusting daycare as it is, but there aren't many options available. If I ever have kids, I'd like to be in a financial position where I can stay home with the children. I don't think I'd want anyone else watching them. But that's just me.
I stay home/work at home and care for my child. I'll be getting a nanny soon but I'll be at home with them because I am uncomfortable leaving my young child alone with a nanny. I still recall the trial of the English au pair who shook the baby and caused his death. Just last week a nanny killed a baby in CA and they discovered the child had old injuries. The caretaker had been abusing the baby for months.
If I had to do daycare I'd trust a business type of daycare, not a family daycare. I feel like the employees are more likely to be on good behavior around non-family, non-friend co-workers.. We go to the neighborhood park on warm days and most of the kids are there with the nannies. The kids seem to like the nannies but my mother and a few relatives are all I'm comfortable leaving my infant with.
If I was a parent in that situation I'd start my own daycare.
I think it goes both ways though, we all have cases or know of some where a nanny, au pair or daycare center dropped the ball with regards to the care of a child.
Personally, I am planning on a family member coming to live with us long term to help us care for the baby when he/she gets here. Im not OK with a random person from CL/WP and Im damn sure dont trust a regular daycare, business or family.
Also keep in mind that everyone isnt built to run a daycare as that means taking on the risk of caring for another family's child/children. So Im not sure that would be a good option either.
One can only hope that society begins to open it's eyes and realize the need for mothers to have flexibility in their careers to be able to take care of their children.
I remember when our little one was still crawling around…They grow up so fast.
I just had to comment that although I stay home with my children, the majority of my friends and neighbors do not. They send their children to a daycare facility and all have had wonderful experiences. The children have flourished in the environment and the caretakers have been wonderful. I do send my oldest child to a parent's day out program twice a week and it's fantastic. I love it and he loves it.
I just think it's important to remember that there ARE wonderful daycare options out there. Business, family or otherwise. It's not all doom and gloom. And not everyone is fortunate enough to have much of a choice.
I definitely feel for those parents who find themselves in situations where they feel they have little or no choices, like that woman that Kristy was talking about. That is just heartbreaking.
I think many of the children who are being taken out of daycare, are being removed because one (or both) parents are out of work. Most are probably now home with a parent. The current doom & gloom atmosphere does not really reflect, the situation for those not directly effected by job loss. If you are still working, unless hours or pay, were cut, you are not likely to be any worse off than you were a year or two ago. Prices on many things have actually gone down.