Vent about Daycare

dixie_darlin

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Why is daycare SO expensive?! They are wanting $130 a week at almost every place I call for my 4yr old!
I have tried to get on a sliding scale but they have a waiting list!
 

babyharley

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My mom has done daycare out of her home for 16 years now, and I know that her rates are hourly....$2.00 per child, and then an additional .75 cents per extra child in the family (for famililes with more than one child).
She is only in a town of about 1,000 people, and she mentioned that some daycares go by a weekly rate, instead of an hourly in a bigger city-maybe thats why its so expensive for you? I know my mom and all the ladies in her town that do it are all at the hourly rate of about that, but I know that my mom is the cheapest in town, but she has the most kids!
 

vibiana

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I hope you're not going to get upset with me, but turn this situation around. People who provide daycare, especially employees of child care centers, make LOUSY money with LOUSY benefits. I have worked in day care over the years and have found it frustrating, tedious work which was poorly compensated and rarely appreciated. If day care employees were paid a decent wage, NOBODY would be able to afford day care.

If it is that much of an expense for you, you might want to reconsider going back to work and take care of your child yourself. Nobody will do as well for money what you will do for love.
 

babyharley

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Originally Posted by Vibiana

I hope you're not going to get upset with me, but turn this situation around. People who provide daycare, especially employees of child care centers, make LOUSY money with LOUSY benefits. I have worked in day care over the years and have found it frustrating, tedious work which was poorly compensated and rarely appreciated. If day care employees were paid a decent wage, NOBODY would be able to afford day care.

If it is that much of an expense for you, you might want to reconsider going back to work and take care of your child yourself. Nobody will do as well for money what you will do for love.
Thats very true-they don't make very good money at all, but my mom truly loves her job, and treats those children as her own! You really get attatched to the kids so quickly, and soon its not even really about the money, she does it cuz she really loves it.

Vibiana-you made a very good point tho!!
 
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dixie_darlin

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OK I understand what you're saying about taking care of them myself... BUT who is going to pay my bills in the mean time? The state? Not likely... I refuse to be a statistic and have people degrade me because I would have to have state/goverment assistance. I get aggravated myself at people who are perfectly capabale of working but refuse to do so. I just dont understand why that they make it SO difficult to FIND a daycare WORTH paying that much for. I had my youngest in a daycare I paid $150/week at and they were the worst I have ever seen. It was great at first and to the bare eye, but withen 2 weeks my son got VERY sick because he wasn't being changed or fed properly... That was my point of my vent... sorry to confuse anyone

And it takes 2 people now days to support a house hold anymore...
 

adriane

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I feel ya. My husband is the provider for us - then again, we've had so many troubles with money that we are living with his parents for now ...
We can hardly scrape enough to get a car - they were both repossesed. Seems like both parents have to work and sacrifice being with their children anymore just to make ends meet.


But for the benefit of our son, we put some money together to put him in daycare/preschool. (He desperatly needed some buddies.) Its $50 a week - but then again he only goes 3 hours a day for 4 days Mon-Thurs. She just takes pre-kindergarden age - so they are all 3, 4 or just newly 5.
His teacher is really great - she teaches them to do letters, numbers, sign language, bible stories and all kinds of things. The "advanced" ones are starting to read. Its so wonderful and very very small. I hope you find something, I know how expensive it is and then of corse you have to find one youre comfortable with too.
 

babyharley

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Originally Posted by DixieDarlin256

OK I understand what you're saying about taking care of them myself... BUT who is going to pay my bills in the mean time? The state? Not likely... I refuse to be a statistic and have people degrade me because I would have to have state/goverment assistance. I get aggravated myself at people who are perfectly capabale of working but refuse to do so. I just dont understand why that they make it SO difficult to FIND a daycare WORTH paying that much for. I had my youngest in a daycare I paid $150/week at and they were the worst I have ever seen. It was great at first and to the bare eye, but withen 2 weeks my son got VERY sick because he wasn't being changed or fed properly... That was my point of my vent... sorry to confuse anyone

And it takes 2 people now days to support a house hold anymore...
That is horrible that the daycare you took your son to was like that, I get so frusterated when I hear about daycare centers/homes like that who don't take proper care of the children.
Your right about it taking 2 people to support a house hold....it really does and thats unfair!

I really hope that you can find a daycare for your son!
 

februa

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Daycare is one of those things...I completely agree that it should be made more affordable, and the only way this can really happen is through subsidization, which of course brings up all kinds of other issues from just about anyone who can have an issue....GRR. What impresses me is the number of companies who are now offering onsite daycare, or daycare allowances as part of a benefit package. SOME steps are being made in the right direction....Good luck finding something better now....Community/School based programs seem to have some decent programs
 

snosrap5

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Originally Posted by DixieDarlin256

Why is daycare SO expensive?! They are wanting $130 a week at almost every place I call for my 4yr old!
I have tried to get on a sliding scale but they have a waiting list!
Can you enroll him in headstart? Here in the panhandle they also start preschool in the public school at no charge to parents either. That is suppose to be state wide across Florida.
 

rockcat

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Originally Posted by DixieDarlin256

OK I understand what you're saying about taking care of them myself... BUT who is going to pay my bills in the mean time? The state? Not likely... I refuse to be a statistic and have people degrade me because I would have to have state/goverment assistance. I get aggravated myself at people who are perfectly capabale of working but refuse to do so. I just dont understand why that they make it SO difficult to FIND a daycare WORTH paying that much for. I had my youngest in a daycare I paid $150/week at and they were the worst I have ever seen. It was great at first and to the bare eye, but withen 2 weeks my son got VERY sick because he wasn't being changed or fed properly... That was my point of my vent... sorry to confuse anyone

And it takes 2 people now days to support a house hold anymore...
I don't know what you do for a living, but a friend of mine recently had a baby. As a single mom, she HAS to work. That meant leaving her newborn at daycare. She complained about some of the things she wasn't happy with there and they asked her if she could do better. She was hired and now gets to be with her baby while she is working!
Of course, she made more money bartending, BUT the daycare cost her so much it wasn't worth it.
 

vibiana

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Look -- if you really MUST go to work to support your household, then find a job with a shift opposite from your husband's. That way, you won't have to get day care and you can actually bring home what you make instead of working to pay someone else to watch your child so you can work.

I have a friend who did this for years -- her husband worked nights and she worked days while the kids were small.
 

evnshawn

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Or you could do what my little sis did. She started her own in-home daycare because she wanted to stay home. Also, it was so expensive for her two little ones that it wasn't worth it for her to work. She is in Kansas, and she can have six kids total, so she has her two (four and seven), and then four more. Obviously there is a shortage of affordable daycare in your area; maybe you would be a good provider.
 

deb25

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Have you thought about trying to enroll your child in the Head Start program?
 

vibiana

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evnshawn ... hi, neighbor! lol *waving from Mission, KS*

I have another friend who was a single mom, and formed a 'circle' with four other women in similar circumstances. Basically, my friend and all but one of the women went to work. The other one kept everybody's kids and collected welfare, with under-the-table grocery and expense help from the working moms.

With a few wrinkles, it worked for several years. All the kids had a stay-at-home mom person, and the moms forged VERY strong friendships.

If more women would get together and help each other, we would not need so much 'welfare as we know it.'
 
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dixie_darlin

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Vibiana I dont know why, but it feels like you're degrading me because I want to be able to work. and my husband and I do work opposite shifts as of now, but never see each other unless he comes home for lunch. And you have to remember, the world has come to the point that I don't trust just anyone with my children but if I am going to leave them with someone, it's going to be someone who is loving, caring and attentive to my child. Not just another mom who herself could be working instead of being on "welfare as we know it". The world is a very distrusting place and it's the people in it who make it that way.

Deb, he can't start headstart until next August because his Birthday falls after the deadline.
And here in florida, you can't just "babysit" other people's children. If you have more then 2 children in the home that arnt yours, you have to have a license.
 

misspiggy

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I agree with the costs being high here in manitoba canada,
I'm lucky enough to have a private home daycare for my three and a half yr old son but pay a little extra. My husband is a truck driver and is only home evey second day(late) and i leave for work at 5:30 in the morning until 3;30pm but my sitter charges me $23.00 for those days and 2 days he starts at 7am til 3;30pm and cost $20.00 but he gets the best learning and interactive skills I cant give him if I stayed home and did'nt work he has 4 girls he's with all day and my sitter says she loves him and he says he loves going there so I know he's being takin care of. It is so hard to find a true person to care for your precious child that you don't have to worry about them getting hurt or abused in any way. so any ways i'm with u
and here in canada they are trying to provide more and resenable cost for day cares
 

kathylou

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Dixie I know what you mean. I am a single mom and if the state didn't help me pay for daycare I wouldn't be able to survive. I don't know what headstart is like there, but it's not so great here. My biggest problem is that most of the daycares here are open weekdays only and close at 8pm. My hours just aren't like that. Fortunately I have some family members that can fill in, and I have a girl that I really trust who comes to the house sometimes.

You're darn right it's hard to find someone you can trust with your kids. I am glad my youngest is 8 now. I feel really sorry for younger womden, becasue it seems like it's getting harder and harder to raise kids these days.
 

vibiana

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Dixie, I certainly am not intending to degrade you. I just can't understand why, if you don't trust anyone else to care for your child, you don't refigure your budget and find a way to stay home with your kids.
 

rockcat

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Originally Posted by Vibiana

The other one kept everybody's kids and collected welfare, with under-the-table grocery and expense help from the working moms.
Umm... wouldn't that be just a little bit illegal? Be careful with this type of thing. I am currently paying the IRS every month from back taxes from my EX-HUSBAND working under the table.
 

evnshawn

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Originally Posted by Vibiana

Dixie, I certainly am not intending to degrade you. I just can't understand why, if you don't trust anyone else to care for your child, you don't refigure your budget and find a way to stay home with your kids.
Sometimes it's just not possible without severely cramping* the lifestyle, especially if the partner who would be working doesn't make all that much. (Of course I don't know your income, DixieDarlin, I'm just saying.) Sure, a lot of people could do it if they put their minds to it and decided to just reconfigure their budget. But not everyone.

*When I say "severely cramping," btw, I mean like ... not eating, etc. I don't mean having a lot of money to spend on nothing.
 
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