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Daycare costs becoming too much
Baby under blanket
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SCOTT JAGOW:
I have it on good authority that Santa Claus is still planning to make his run this year. He never takes a year off. But he is concerned about the costs facing parents.
Beyond feeding the kids and clothing them, there's saving for college -- that's a biggie -- and daycare. The cost of childcare is outpacing inflation. That leaves parents with a tough call: Find more money or find another way to care for their children.
Jaime Bedrin has this story from New York.
JAMIE BEDRIN: Got $15,000? You'll need it in most parts of the U.S. if you're going to put an infant into full-time daycare for a year.
Julie Landweber and her husband are professors in New Jersey. She says the cost of keeping their son in daycare is higher than tuition at her husband's college. Daycare gobbles up 10 percent of their income, and it's making it hard for them to save.
JULIE LANDWEBER: We've always been very good savers. And he's been in this daycare now for a little over a year. And we saved almost no money last year, outside of retirement.
High costs have ruled out daycare for Jennifer Lauchlan and her partner Kate. Jennifer is a librarian in Washington, D.C. Kate teaches. Jennifer says daycare wasn't out of the question with one child, then they had their second.
Jennifer Lauchlan: Should we have both kids in daycare? Or, what are our other options. And when we looked at the cost of the daycare for two kids, it was staggering.
Lauchlan says the cost wipes out one salary almost entirely. It made more sense for one of them to stay home with the kids. But Lauchlan says supporting a family on a librarian's pay is a challenge.
Lauchlan: It does impact both the way that we live day-to-day, and it also is a stressful thing.
The family is now living on a tight budget. They clip coupons and buy generic cereal. They're even babysitting a few days a week to help make ends meet.
Mark Gavagan wouldn't even consider private childcare. He's a day-trader in New Jersey. His wife's a consultant. They've planned their schedules so that one of them is always home with the couple's two daughters.
Mark Gavagan: All the time, I think, Boy, if I had more hours a week to put into my business efforts, I would be much more successful. But at the same time, the dividends that we receive from this arrangement, while not helping us financially, are helping us in every other way.
None of these people feel that childcare professionals should be paid less -- they do a vital job in raising kids. But for people with modest incomes, the cost of private childcare is becoming impossible to absorb. Julie Landweber, the professor, believes daycare teaches kids valuable social skills. She likes the idea of a public preschool or national daycare like they have in other countries.
LANDWEBER: I also think that it should be partially or fully taxpayer covered. And that would mean higher taxes, but I think that we would benefit as a society from it.
But there are no plans in the works for any kind of public daycare, which means Landweber and others like her will have to continue to pay up if they want to work full-time and have children.
Landweber says she's looking forward to her son's first day of kindergarten. It's free.
In New York, I'm Jaime Bedrin for Marketplace.
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As I finish grad school from one of the less lucrative disciplines, I face the quandary--is full-time daycare for two worth it? The cost of care will cancel my salary, and that doesn't even take into account those student loan bills. What to do? No easy answers at all. If anyone knows of a cash cow that needs a home, let me know, will you? I sarcastically turn the phrase "overeducated mother" over and over in my mind these days...
As a working mother of three young children, I can relate to the high-costs of daycare. Good quality daycare does cost. While $15,000 is on the high-end of care. I have done different things depending upon our financial circumstances including nanny-sharing arrangements with other families.
I will not apologize for working. I find satisfaction from my vocation and I have spent my lifetime acquiring an education and building a career -- something I hope my children do as well.
The real story is how older parents have to 1) pay for daycare, childcare, independent schools, daycamps and other enriching activities, 2) save for college and 3) save for retirement -- all at the same time. We still can afford to eat, so I feel fortunate!
Thanks for these very interesting comments on our story. If you'd like to add your thoughts on affordable child care to our Public Insight Network of news sources for Marketplace, here is the same set of questions that the people in this report answered. Here is the link:
http://tinyurl.com/MarketplaceChildCare
Thanks in advance for sharing your insights,
Sharon McNary
Public Insight Journalism
Marketplace
I wonder if people are misinterpreting what the people in the interview said. What makes you think these people didn't think about child care costs before having kids? They could think childcare is expensive (and plan for it) and still choose to have kids.
Also, I thought the professor was saying that public daycare, or public assistance for daycare, would help all working women and result in better care for toddlers. I think she was advocating for all working women with children, most of whom are in far worse financial situations. I don't see that she was asking for government for herself alone.
Lastly, what's wrong about seeing what works in a country like Germany? It's not like we have such great results in the U.S. We are 18th out of the top 20 industrial countries in terms of infant mortality, healthcare, education, etc. Maybe we could learn something from others?
I agree with those who state that it's narrow minded to believe that only stay-at-home parenthood is correct, but I, too, have very little sympathy for the folks profiled in the story. When i went to work full time 10 years ago when my youngest was 12 weeks old, i was paying $10,000 per year on child care for 2 kids. And what was my salary? $20,000--that's right! Child care was 1/2 of my income. But for me & my family the benefits (health care, anyone?) still out-weighed the cost, so I worked. Yah, wouldn't it be great to be a German Citizen, and have my country pay me for each child born to my family, but reality dictates that the U.S. isn't going to start public taxpayer funded daycares (we can hardly get K-12 right), and i would most definitely be opposed to such a thing. The time to consider the costs of child-rearing was BEFORE, not after you had kids.
What I find really interesting about the comments is how militant many stay at-home mothers are that their choice is the only correct choice. If a mother wants to stay home and raise their children, that's wonderful. But there's no reason to believe that they will be doing any better job than a mother who chooses to keep working. It has nothing to do with what's best for the children. Please visit the families of children who attend full time day-care. The children are just as happy and loved and doing as well as those whose mothers stay home.
The idea that mothers who work are sacrificing their kids for their careers has no basis in fact. It's just language that's meant to attack working mothers.
-peter
Reading these comments, I am surprised and dismayed at the vitriol launched at working parents. Since when are librarians and teachers considered yuppies? I am an acupuncturist and by default own my own small business, my husband works for a land trust conserving open space for future generations. Our work is fulfilling, important and underpaid. We have one child in daycare and we struggle to make ends meet. We joke that it would be nice to have enough to fix the furnace AND go on one vacation a year, but the truth is that all our "extra" income goes to providing the very best daycare for our daughter. One person in a high-powered job could easily make what we make together--we are not yuppies either.
Our daughter hasn't always been in full time daycare--we have both sacrificed moving ahead in our careers, and putting money in the bank, to make sure that one of us spends extra time with her during the week. And, make no mistake, she has benefitted greatly from the time she has spent with other children and loving adults.
The idea that the ONLY way to lovingly raise a child is for one parent to be home with him or her does not reflect the reality that for most of human history, children have been raised by many people and among other children. We know that in both agrarian and industrial societies alike, children were tended by extended family, neighbors or friends while parents worked. The "stay at home mom" concept arose only in the Victorian era, when wealthy women were relegated to home and hearth--even then many of those women hired others to raise their children! Don't believe me? Just watch Mary Poppins!
So, why don't I stay home? First, I simply can't afford to. Even the financial break we would get from taking our daughter out of daycare would be less than half of my salary. Second, it would mean the end, not a suspension, of my career as an acupuncturist. It has taken years for me to build a practice from which I can draw a half-decent salary. To take a year or two off would mean that when I went back, I would need to start all over again, facing another few years of little to no income. Even if I was ready to give up my career, there's still the question of that $25,000 left in student loans to pay off before my little girl goes to college.
Tough choices indeed!
Yet another reason why it's best to be an at-home mom. Putting a child in daycare for 50 hours a week is cruel. If you must work to put food on the table, then you have no choice - but none of these families were in that situation. My best friend is a divorced mom, so she has to work and her son has been in daycare since he was 6 weeks old.
I would love to go back to work - I miss my career, and we give up pretty much all extras and then some so I can stay home. But what's best for my kids, my family? Clearly being home with mom. They will be older and more independent too quickly as it is.
As for all-day kindergarten, no thanks. I don't think a 5 yr old should be in school all day, just to make it easier for parents. What about what's best for the child?
Free daycare for duel income yuppies? Please! Duel income parents have been pushing for this "free" lunch ever since professional women moved into the work place but couldn't get or wouldn't let their spouses stay at home with the kids.
Personally I consider $15000 for daycare of an infant cheap when compared to the estimated $75000 income the two professors would give up if one stayed home.
However these very same duel income high spenders have driven up the cost of living for those with no choice but to raise their own offspring.
The story wimpered that daycare eats up 10% of their annual income estimated to be $150,000, making it hard for them to save. Huh? Are these folks visiting Starbucks twice a day and drinking Poland Spring water? Do they shop in the Whole Foods premium isle? Are they driving Chevy Tahoes?
Frankly giving these yuppies free daycare would just give them more fun money at taxpayers expense.
We already pay enough property taxes for K to 12 public schools and to subsidized state colleges.
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