daycare costs more than college in 31 states

[RelaxTheMind]

$0/month. wife and i work from home (2 completely different jobs). she has set hours and i dont.

its both a blessing and a curse.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Because nobody wants to take care of your damn kids.

(Nah, just kidding. Your kids are awesome. But you've met the kids I'm talking about. And OH MY GOD THEIR PARENTS!)

 

[Red Squirrel]

When you have more than one kid it actually makes sense to have a stay at home mom. My sister has 3 kids, she ended up just staying at home till they were all in school. The money she would have made from working would have just gone towards daycare anyway, not to mention the hassle if they ever get sick. Daycare wont take them as they don't want to spread germs to other kids (makes sense and is reasonable). That means you have to miss work, and some bosses may not approve.

 

[Alienwho]

I feel like I could find a live in mexican nanny/maid for less than what some of you are paying for daycare.

My bro/sis in law lived in LA for the past few years and she stayed at home with the kids and said when she would take the kids to the park she was the only white lady there amongst a load of white kids and brown women.

 

[Broheim]

That's one of the oddest statements I've heard. Though off track, do you care to elaborate on that?

I should have specified that I mean here in Denmark.

it's just the motto of Danish families "villa, volvo og vovse" (House, volvo station wagon and dog). The only reason someone lives in an apartment in the city when they have kids is because they want to live in the city(or they're single parents who got pregnant as teenagers and don't have a job so the municipality gave them an apartment), renting/buying an apartment isn't really cheaper than buying a house.

 

[jpiniero]

2k /month for daycare.

Kids are such a waste of money.

 

[postmortemIA]

Nobody mentioned how much babies get sick in daycare, especially in the winter. Pretty much on the daily basis. Let's be honest every mom would rather stay at home with the kid than watching it being sick all the time. It sucks that there is no law designated time for parents to be with babies after birth in USA.
I see all the time that parents bring still sick kids to daycare just that neither of parents has to get day off... Usually it is the hidden pressure by employers to not take days off. The trick that I get is I'm so overloaded with work that taking the day off actually makes it harder on me.

 

[rh71]

Kids are such a waste of money.

The stat is out there for everyone to consider before you even birth them. $225k per child till 18. Although in my own calculations I found it to be closer to 150k for me. It sounds like a ton but if you both work for 15+ years...

After they get to be in public school the expense is only about 8k per year and that includes after school care and sports etc.

Waste? Hardly. You could say the same thing about pets but there is still enjoyment there. With kids you have negatives but also other positives like joy and pride. Seeing them smile and just be happy means a lot and only parents can understand.

 

[rh71]

Nobody mentioned how much babies get sick in daycare, especially in the winter. Pretty much on the daily basis. Let's be honest every mom would rather stay at home with the kid than watching it being sick all the time. It sucks that there is no law designated time for parents to be with babies after birth in USA.
I see all the time that parents bring still sick kids to daycare just that neither of parents has to get day off... Usually it is the hidden pressure by employers to not take days off. The trick that I get is I'm so overloaded with work that taking the day off actually makes it harder on me.

We get 3 months by default but we did 6 months with long term disability (reduced pay then no pay). I believe Canada gets 1 year by default. Man I'd hate to be a business owner there and have to deal with managing all those long term absences from good employees.

As for sickness yes it's mostly because parents can't take another day off. There's already a lot of trips and breaks they have to save them for. Stay at home parents are more likely to keep sick kids home.

 

[pcgeek11]

I'm glad my wife remained at home and cared for our now grown son. That is retarded to pay more for day care than college.

 

[Murloc]

I should have specified that I mean here in Denmark.

it's just the motto of Danish families "villa, volvo og vovse" (House, volvo station wagon and dog). The only reason someone lives in an apartment in the city when they have kids is because they want to live in the city(or they're single parents who got pregnant as teenagers and don't have a job so the municipality gave them an apartment), renting/buying an apartment isn't really cheaper than buying a house.

yeah that won't work in any country that isn't a flatland with low income inequality.
Here it can't work because there are too many mountains and population density is very high, not to mention strong immigration from the EU.
People can't even find cheap apartments, let alone affordable houses (almost all space has been built up already, and zoning was pretty liberal too).

It's not like she went kicking and screaming. She was going to retire next year anyway, and she was the one that first brought it up. I was resistant at first until we exhausted all the daycare options and couldn't find any we liked. She absolutely loves taking care of her granddaughter during the week.

well then you could have said "she retired early to take care of the kid", saying that you and your wife retired her sounds like you own her body so it sounds weird if you don't include the details.

 

[rsd]

Nobody mentioned how much babies get sick in daycare, especially in the winter. Pretty much on the daily basis. Let's be honest every mom would rather stay at home with the kid than watching it being sick all the time. It sucks that there is no law designated time for parents to be with babies after birth in USA.
I see all the time that parents bring still sick kids to daycare just that neither of parents has to get day off... Usually it is the hidden pressure by employers to not take days off. The trick that I get is I'm so overloaded with work that taking the day off actually makes it harder on me.

While it sucks in the short term, there are studies that have shown that kids that are exposed to these bugs earlier are less likely to get sick when they are school age.

 

[notposting]

I basically quit my job doing electrical work to stay home with our now 2 boys. Construction is too hit or miss in Michigan since 2008 and we have to have healthcare. Wife has steady income, healthcare, paid vacation, sicktime, etc. Sort of sucks but it has some bonuses.

 

[manimal]

4 year old triplets here and we did the nanny thing early on and it helped till the nanny lost her mind and started telling people they were her kids when she was out walking them. Restraining order later we took them to daycare and I ended up missing so much work that I sold one company and closed another to stay at home and take care of them. I now do 3 days of day care and take care of them the rest of the week while working part time so I dont lose my mind.

Cost of day care is crazy when you have multiples....

 

[jpiniero]

Reading earlier in the thread; and if the daycare was really 1-1 or 1-2 , the pricing doesn't sound that bad. It does seem like overkill however. I'm not sure you really need that kind of staffing levels for kids that aren't going to do much other than walk around, cry, and maybe eat.

 

[Attic]

Comes down to priorities. With two adults one can stay at home, but the family will have to get by on a lot less and perhaps downgrade some stuff (car, house, ect..).

The ridiculous daycare prices in the US either force a parent to stay at home to care, or for the couple to pay exorbitant fees to care for the child during the day. I like the stay at home option for a childs first 2-3 years.


But basically even with all the tax breaks given to families, you either have to be poor to get those, or you're going to have little to no money for awhile if you have a kid if you're not very financially solid if you decide you want to stop pulling out.

 

[soulcougher73]

Sure. What's their tax rate again?

Pretty much same as ours with all taxes figured in. They just spend it more wisely and efficiently than the US does.