Minnesota daycare more expensive than college

[sarahisis]

Minnesota ranked the second most-costly state for full-time center-based infant care in the country, according to a new report from Child Care Aware of America.

Here is the full article

minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/08/20/daily-circuit-child-care-costs/

This is craziness!

[deannemdm]

It shows we care about quality care for our children and prove it with our $$$. It's just too bad that the rest of the country doesn't show it the same way?
Maybe that's a silver lining?
It's stretch I know

[sarahisis]

you definitely get what you pay for... but it definitely doesn't do anything good for families that cannot afford quality daycare or preschool...
I don't think quality daycare should be out of reach for as many as it is.

[doeeyedgirl]

I have come to a comfort with daycare being expensive. Not much we can do about it. However, it really stinks when the preschool is just as expensive and then you have to pay for daycare on top of that. We just can't do it. We were able to this year, but last year there was no way we could afford it. Plus, spending a fortune is just insane when you are pinching pennies as is.

[nevaehsmom327]

Daycare is ridiculous. I understand wanting good care, but tell me honestly...$300+ a WEEK plus having to pay for diapers, wipes, formula and everything in between to bring to the daycare is just...oooh it blows my mind with how outrageous it is. Again, I understand they're taking care of your children, but if you're in that job you should be doing it out of the kindness of your heart and love for children, not to be making a greedy profit and charging people insane amounts for child care.

We're lucky enough to have family help out tremendously...but I remember being a single parent, with a young kid and putting her in daycare. I paid more for daycare every month than I did any other bill. Again, it's my kid, I get it, I want good care...but did I get good care? Not typically. Ugh...ok...I could go on and on about daycare...but it is really sad for those who can't afford it. It's getting out of reach for too many people.

[onlyoneboy]

Daycare center prices are outragous! And your child doesn't get individual attention. We use a home daycare and love it. It's alot cheaper than centers and there are only 3 other kids besides my 2.

[ReneeW]

By far, for me the biggest challenge as a new mom was finding child care. It is insanely expensive, and for people like me who don't make a solid salary, it's extremely stressful. Thank goodness my in-laws help out. But still, even now, there are days I go to work and basically I'm making $0 that day. I work three days a week and on Day 1 my kids are with my in-laws (thank the Lord). Day 2 they're with a nanny (which, I admit we chose to pay for so she can drive the kids to swimming lessons and what not) and by the time you take my hourly wage and remove taxes, it's a wash. I make nothing. Day 3 I try to work on days when my DH is home. I have one more year 'til the youngest is in kindergarten, so at least that will help my take-home pay--and I plan to work more. But for this era so far, my take-home pay has absolutely taken a big hit.

[sharon]

Being on the other side of it, I can tell you that it's impossible to make a profit caring for infants. It means coming to peace with losing money and hoping you keep the family and make up for the loss over the long haul.

We are hoping to open infant care at my school in the future and it's all about getting everyone to wrap their brains around the fact that it will lose money. And do it anyway

[nevaehsmom327]

Sharon, I guess I don't understand how it's impossible to make a profit on infants? They're 1. the most expensive to actually pay for in daycare and 2. most (this may be where it gets to be the spendy part for a caregiver if they don't do this) places do not provide ANY of the things necessary to give the care.

So - i guess from my point of view, the daycare is simply watching an infant sleep for most of the day while changing diapers that are provided by the parents, as well as feeding it with formula/breastmilk that is provided by the parents, as well as changing clothes that are also provided by the parent, and they're not taking them out on any field trips. Some places may be different and provide those things, but in my history of looking at daycare, that's what i've seen most places do.

[onlyoneboy]

I wonder that too Amy. I provide diapers, wipes and formula for DS2. I pay the same for both boys each day. Daycare provides food and snacks for DS1 so she is spending money to feed him while I provide the food for DS2 so there is no out of pocket expense for him.

[doeeyedgirl]

I find it hard to believe that daycares, especially home daycares, would want to take an infant on at all if they are not making money or are losing money. Doesn't seem financially efficient.

[supermommy]

Which is why we don't do daycare...wouldn't make enough money to make it all worth it in the end. If I had a higher paying job and LOVED what I did then yes daycare all the way :-)

[sarahisis]

after my Aunt retired she worked in an infant room at a daycare a few times a week...
she called her "job description" as a baby rocker. She'd always say how much she just loves to go in and rock and feed the babies... and that was most of their day. Families were expected to provide everything for feeding, and changing... the daycare workers sang songs, did tummy time with the babies and then the standard care. I don't understand how they would be losing money either. Infant care at most daycares (at least all that I have researched) charge more anyhow than other age groups.

[ReneeW]

That's how it was where I've taken my kids--infants are most expensive because they have a smaller child to teacher ratio. As kids age they can have one teacher and more kids so it's cheaper.

[bumblebee23]

When I was looking into putting my boys in daycare I was shocked at how much daycare centers would charge for sending my kid there. As much as $425 for one kid a week! I was becoming so worried I couldn't afford daycare and thus wouldn't be able to get the job we needed me to get in order to pay our bills.

I ended up finding a in home daycare which was way cheaper but still took about 1/2 my paycheck. Paying for holidays and vacation was annoying too because they weren't there AND I had to find alternate childcare which wasn't an easy thing for me to do at the time. I was lucky to find two outstanding in home daycare centers but it still hurt financially.

Then when it was time for my oldest to start preschool and I was looking into that there was no way I could pay them and extra 100 dollars or so a week for my son to go AND still have to pay for daycare. Not to mention how I was going to provide transportation for him and I never found anything about scholarships or anything like that for him so he didn't go. Thankfully the lady he went to daycare with taught him a lot everyday.

Then my youngest was only able to go to preschool because the daycare (different one at this point) ladies daughter ran a preschool at a church and gave him a scholarship and her other daughter picked him up and drove him to and from so he got lucky being able to attend one year.

Then after we bought the house daycare was becoming an incredible burden and since my mom moved close by she started watching the boys.