Are you getting your money's worth when it comes to child care?
Posted at 5:00 AM on August 13, 2010
by Michael Caputo
(22 Comments)
Filed under: Culture, Economy
A new national study says day care center costs for an infant exceed college tuition in 40 states. That study ranks Minnesota third on the list of least affordable states for full-time child care. Today's question: Are you getting your money's worth when it comes to child care?
Comments (22)
When it comes to finding the most affordable childcare I don't think that is a major problem. We have lots of tools to do so. I can jump on the web and find company listings, nanny listings, babysitter listings. And if I spend enough time on these search's and give enough effort then It is not a problem to find some honestly dirt cheap childcare in my region.
But really who has time these days?
http://www.modernmom.com/blogs/paul-louis/can-you-really-put-a-price-on-keeping-your-children-safe-and-satisfied-when-it-comes-to-childcare
We cant afford childcare atm 100 bucks per child per week even at the cheap places where I live. So I mainly watch the kids while my wife is working, until I can get a job that can cover the 1200$ per month bill we would have to pay in order for me to work too.
I dont say however that the child care workers dont deserve the money, because they do. they are for the most part well educated, and are doing that type of work so that they too can make a living.
This is nothing personal but I don't think so.
The formative years are the most important years of a childs life and really we have created a parentless life for kids today....it is not healthy and the results are everywhere.
I think we need to be thinking about unity and continuity in life. The Center for Learning. An integrated educational facility which would also be a community center. Children from 6 weeks to a 2 years associates degree. This is a very cost effective way to raise our society. The Center can be opened 7 days a week with a theater and a gathering area, Open daily from 6am to 9pm based on activities. The school would create the secure and consistant organization to give all ages the necessary interconnectivness needed to create a healthy Culture. All age children would help the daily routine of their education and facility operation.
This would stop duplicaition of facilities which we can't afford anymore. It would expand the social connection with parents and students.
Do the math. Child care requires a competent, responsible, well educated professional at an adult to child ratio of 1:4-1:10. Children are in child care 9 hours per day and 50 weeks out of the year. There is not economy of scale, in fact, the reverse is true. There are no on line child care or Graduate Teaching Assistant classes.
Calculate the adult/student "contact" hours compared to any college tuitio, calendar and class size and the contact hours per student load and then compare the two. Both require planning and preparation time. Take into account the hidden state or philanthropic subsidy embedded in most college and university tuitions.
In addition research shows that early education has more of an impact than later education (sometimes referred to as "higher education")
It is looking to me like child care is a bargain. This is largely because of the low wages paid to child care professionals in our society and the general ignorance about the role of early learning and development in a person's life.
Yes, childcare is an expense much like college, but how many people have gone through all their years of college without any financial aid packages to help them? Loans, grants, special tax credits etc. No one in my circle of friends including the CEO of my organization!
Yet, parents are considered "bad" parents if they either do not stay home to take care of their children or pay the entire amount of care for child care! The actual cost of care is much higher than what is actually being paid by parents or the state if the family recieves assistance. There are many studies out there that prove that an investment in high quality early education will give us a high return for our money, so where does the responsiibility lie? If we want our society to produce high quality workers for the futre we need to invest in the children now!
To those who think there should be higher tax credits for daycare: Why?
If you're thinking of working poor single parents, struggling to make ends meet by stringing together low-paid part-time jobs into full-time work, I'm with you. If you're complaining about how unfair it is that both parents have to work at high-paid jobs to pay for the mortgage on a house that was really more than you could afford (and the lifestyle that goes with it) and you're not willing to live more frugally on just one income, you've lost me.
YES!, My wife and I are doing a fine job.
We have planned and also made financial sacrifices so that our children are raised by US with OUR values and morals. If they deserved a spank they got one (a vary rare event) more over if they needed a hug and a kiss they received them X2. We booth help with early child care (my wife took a few years from her career), homework, Cub & Boy Scouts, church, family vacations, fishing, hunting, school activities and guidance in all of life’s facets.
The family is not something that should be sold to the lowest bidder.
My believe is that our great nation is eroding from the lack of family.
It is easy to make kids… it is VERY demanding to raise them.
DTOM
I looked at about 20 Daycare / Preschool options for my son and daughter when we moved here about 2 years ago. I figured out that childcare is expensive, and i kind of accepted that as long as my / my kids needs are covered. The most important thing for me was that the kids can be kids, that means for me free play and practice their body skills (climb trees,...). I learned that Preschools here are mainly about safety and keeping the kids busy. Essentially the opposite approach for early childhood education compared to what we were used to in Europe.
Finally, I found what I was looking for at the FOREST PRESCHOOL in LINDEN HILLS.
The teacher is wonderful, giving the kids the possibility to get relaxed not exhausted. The kids are exposed to nature as much as possible, not staying inside; they will have enough time to do that the rest of their lives anyway. The little ones have a posibility to gain confidence in their own skills away from their home environment. Our kids have been attending the Forest Preschool now for a year and all I can say we love it and its worth more than money.
I have been in full time childcare for 9 years, and have worked in every aspect from daycare to nanny. I do see the rise in childcare cost, and I have friends that cannot afford the cost of it. However, on the flip side when working for a daycare, I was not able to afford to stay. I was living paycheck to paycheck, and at the top of the pay scale. I was making under twenty thousand a year. I have years of experience and a degree in early childhood education. So where is all the money going? I know there is a lot of upkeep with centers as well as having to pay enough staff to be in ratio, but still! The company I worked for had been on a wage freeze (as of May 2010) for three years. There is also a lot of demand on teachers in centers. I was a toddler teacher and constantly was bringing work home with me to finish. It is just as demanding as teaching elementary school without a salary. I did have co workers that wouldn't do any of the work required, yet they still had their jobs. It was very unprofessional, and disheartening to see people act like they care to a families face, and talk about them when they leave. I don't think the cost of care can always reflect on the quality of care. I am now a nanny. I am making more money and the family I work for is paying less. It's not all about the paycheck though. I like working for a family that appreciates what I do, and there is a lot less stress.
Not sure this really answers anything, but I wanted to put in my two cents!
Taken from the study cited above:
"Like many service industries, about 80 percent of the
cost in a child care program is for payroll and related
expenses. The major way to control the budget is to
control salaries. However, despite the tremendous
responsibilities child care providers assume, child care
remains one of the lowest paying professional fields.
The federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt
employees is $7.25 per hour, and the average income
for a full-time child care worker is $9.70/hour."
Also cited in the comparison is child care cost to college cost. Unlike a college, unless it is private, preschools have 6 or 8 children enrolled per day in a classroom, compared to 26,30, 40 or more students per day in a public school or college classroom, if we are comparing cost. A college can defray student cost impact by having greater numbers of students, we can not nor would we want that for our younger learners. One of the things that makes private schools achieve so well are the small student/teacher ratios. Would you rather have your child in a class of 30 or a class of 13?
As should be, there are legal teacher/child ratios for childcare, on top of the cost of the space in which the care is provided, the cost of the food, many programs, mine included serves only organic food, in addition to providing quality toys, supplies, art materials etc.
We must ask ourselves, do we want our children's teachers paid a fair and living wage, allowing for the ability to focus on the children each and every day, or to need to work two jobs to make ends meet. Few people are great at working with children, it is a talent that should be fairly compensated and appreciated for all of the hard work that goes into this lovingly provided service to our children.
I have one toddler who is in a family-owned daycare center. It's SO expensive - as much as the mortgage - but I do think he gets absolutely fantastic care. It's worth it to me because I can go to work and not be worried at all about where I've left him. I know he's in great hands, has a close personal bond with his caregivers, and enjoys his time there. That sort of feeling is hard to put a price tag on.
On the other hand, I would like to have a second child but can not afford it. If I had one more child at the current cost of childcare, it would be more than half of my GROSS salary. (I work at a small non-profit and although I have post-graduate education, I still make a meager salary). I guess my household will be one child-only until this one starts Kindergarten. And by then I'll be nearing 40... so maybe it will never happen. It's sad that I feel I have to make my family planning decisions based on affordability of childcare. That (and the fact that my house is small) are the only things really preventing me from having a second child.
@bsimon I wonder if your children are in the same place as mine... it's a bilingual Spanish program too!
I have been on all sides of this coin. I was a single mother trying to stay off wellfare and keep a job.
I was completely dependant on my daycare provider, but it was vary hard to pay the daycare bill weekly.
I was a daycare provider for 10 years and some people feel that the only reason you can do daycare is because your rich. The avarage provider is making a very modest living especially the home daycare provider. The industry is regulated beyond fairness and the avarage person really has no clue what a daycare provider has to face, from parents who do not respect boundries and the fact that we as daycare providers have the least amount of rights of any proffesional who works with chilldren. I also want to add especially the home provider, must work days that are 12-15 hours long and we just don't put our feet up or get weekends off just because your child went home.
Allot of daycares provide qaulity care, educational services, parental support, enrichment programs, a safe environment to grow and learn not to mention ton's of love and yet all of us grumble about the price tag. How many people could do their job? How many want to? What would you charge to be a licensed day care provider?
I no longer provide daycare and constantly struggle with having my child in daycare or not because of cost but I feel that the programs both my chilldren have been in have given them a leg up in life. As parents most of us would love to have at least one parent at home but that is just not realistic for most families.
Yes, the price for day care is high, however our chilldren are the future of our world and we would give our very souls to protect them, yet we complain about paying $250 a week to keep them safe and cared for so their parents can go to work and earn a living. My chilldren are worth it are yours?
One thing about the question is it asks whether we're getting value for the expense, while the study notes that MN is one of the 'least affordable'. Both conditions can be true: as I noted earlier, daycare expenses are our single highest expense - higher than the mortgage. But, we're committing to that expense because it offers more value than if we were, for example, driving newer cars.
Stop having kids.
I don't feel bad for any of you, and no, lets not give bigger deductions. Lets get rid of all deductions so we can pay our countries bills. Then maybe people wouldn't build huge houses and have too many kids. Such a waste of energy, you're to blame for all of our environmental problems.
If I see another person with 3 children shop organically and act like they are so good for the world I think I am going to snap.
Another thing, if our state tax system wasn't so regressive the people babysitting your kids (making peanuts) wouldn't have to charge so much.
We've formed a co-op with three other couples. It saves us lots of money and we all take daycare shifts during the week. It requires flexibility, but none of us could afford the kind of quality care that we're providing collectively to each other and to our own children.
My husband and I live a moderate, middle-class lifestyle. Daycare for our 5-month-old costs nearly as much as our mortgage. We chose a daycare center over an in-home daycare because of the security and standards involved. We are more than satisfied with the care our son receives, but we are on a very, very strict budget with no wiggle room. If we can barely make it, how can single mothers, poorer families etc afford quality daycare?
Something should definitely be done to make these quality centers more affordable for working class families, but what?
We are parents-to-be and this is a big worry. We are fairly well off for our late 20s and feel secure about our jobs. I think we'll make it work or might even try to negotiate something with one of our employers (four day week possibly). We're also hoping to utilize family nearby for a few days of daycare.
Many of our friends are waiting on having babies solely because they don't think they can afford child care costs just yet. Or, because of the economy, are either just getting into secure jobs (even in late 20s here) or have recently been laid off (not so secure).
A year ago we switched from a center-based daycare to a home simply because of the cost. At the center, we were paying close to $300 for infant care, and then $250 for toddler (per week). With a second child on the way, there was no way we could afford $2k a month. We now pay $300 a week for both kids at the home based daycare.
Was the $300 and $250 a week worth it for a center? Looking back, no way. Similar to bsimon, our kids get tons of outdoor play, daily projects, and a preschool curriculum in their home based day care. But more importantly (in my humble opinion), they get tons of one-on-one attention and true love from their provider that they did not get in the center. I wish we would have saved ourselves thousands by making the switch earlier.
We are paying $1200 a month for full time care for our toddler (I visited places that were as high as $2100/month). Yes, I think we're getting our money's worth, the teachers at his school are great, they seem to be paid fairly, seem to truly enjoy their jobs, and our son is thriving in the classroom environment. Of course, I don't wish anyone to be paid less, but $1200/month is a huge chunk of anyone's budget. We've sacrificed a lot to be able to make that payment.
I wish the Feds would raise the Dependent Care Reimbursement account from $5000/year per family to $5000/year per child or, ideally really remove the cap altogether.
i never put my kids in day care but my wife has been a provider for 17 years and my experience being around the kids is that the parents are getting their monies worth with daycare because daycare is a tough grueling job that takes lots of work!
We're absolutely getting our money's worth. It's expensive, but worth it. We have two kids in a bilingual daycare fulltime. No TV, generous outdoor time, particularly for the preschooler; fieldtrips, daily art projects and number/alphabet review. This week's theme is the 5 senses - the projects each day reinforce the sense of the day. Last night after bathtime, my 3 1/2 year old was looking around the room, repeating the names of various objects in english and spanish; it was pretty cool.
We pay $750 a month for 75% time at a home day care. I feel that our provider is wonderful, a true partner in our parenting, and that day care brings socialization and enrichment that he wouldn't have if he was solely home with us.
However, at $9,000 a year for less than full-time care, this is our second largest expense after housing. We have looked for ways that either myself or my husband could stay home more, but right now there aren't any other options. There were less expensive home day cares in our neighborhood, but our provider does not have a television, takes cloth diapers, and engages the children in lots of fun, learning activities. The others we interviewed had a television as central with tons of videos, balked at our vegetarianism, and were not very organized.
I don't know how families that make less than we do can afford day care. They certainly can't afford high-quality day care without a subsidy. If we expect both parents to work, then we have to find a way to make high quality day care more affordable.
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