How do you get cheap and quality child care?

[Xin Lu]

So I don't have kids yet, but I'm thinking of having one. I am wondering how do people get quality child care that is affordable if a parent isn't available to take care of the child? In China they usually let one of the grandparents take care of the kid, but that is no go here in America.

[amandajane]

Originally Posted by Xin Lu

So I don't have kids yet, but I'm thinking of having one. I am wondering how do people get quality child care that is affordable if a parent isn't available to take care of the child? In China they usually let one of the grandparents take care of the kid, but that is no go here in America.

Why is it a no go in America? It's the ideal solution when they are ready, available and willing. I have a shared care arrangement with my son's grandmother and it works very well. It has taken some negotiation as time has gone on but it's been 5 years plus now and all the small problems have been ironed out.

Here in NZ the government have just instituted a 20 hours free childcare a week for preschoolers too, it seems to be going down very well.

[Milehimama]

Family members are your best bet. Aunts, uncles, grandparents. I know lots of people who keep their grandchildren.

Cheap daycares are hell.

I've found good childcare also by contacting homeschooling families (from church, etc.) Very often, there are teenage girls that are free during daytime hours; if they want to be a nanny you have to have hours of caring for children that are not related to you. Also, sometimes the mother of the family would like to earn some income from her home and takes in children. You should be able to get a list of licensed care providers from your local government, or United Way has a hotline for childcare. Look for "home environment" - you get better prices (and often more personalized care) if you are not subsidizing the overhead for a large building and staff.

The people that run the nursery at large churches are good bets as well. They are usually volunteers who do that job because they LIKE kids; many of them are women whose own children have grown up.


That said, why don't you start taking steps NOW to create a more flexible career path so that you do not have to rely on full time childcare? You will still need childcare when working from home, but you can get the more affordable "mother's helper" rather than licensed care if you are actually in the home to supervise.

[1littlething]

I have to agree with using family members. I used to watch my neices during the day. I charged much, much less than a day care would and it gave my oldest (then only) son time to play with other kids. Now they stay with their grandmothr during the day, who watches them for free.

[Blueporch]

There are often non-profit daycares attached to universities. First priority goes to faculty and students, but there are sometimes places left over. The workers are usually students studying child development, so they're more motivated and involved than many low-paid childcare workers. Put yourself on a waiting list as soon as you can, because they tend to be popular. Another option is an au pair. They come from abroad for a period of one year per au pair. You have to go through one of six agencies authorized to handle the arrangements. They have a set salary, which is something like $12,000; they live in your house as a member of the family; and you have to give them some time off to take classes. They're allowed to work a phenomenal number of hours a week, though (although it wouldn't be good to actually make them work that many). This can be especially cost effective if you have more than one child, so you're paying $12,000 a year to take care of two kids rather than one. If you have a flexible work schedule, you can also swap childcare with other parents. Last, check whether your job offers a Flexible Spending Account. You can put up to $5000 in pre-tax dollars in the account, which will be reimbursed when you've spent it on an authorized childcare provider (i.e. a daycare center, not your niece). That can save around $1500-2000 on childcare per year. Start networking and talking to parents of kids in your neighborhood for the inside story on local daycare centers and options.

[Lucy]

Great suggestions, Blueporch. I have to agree with all your suggestions and add a few comments of my own.

The college/university angle is a great one. Our college offers licensed and accredited child care, and if you're a student who qualifies for financial aid, we have a grant that subsidizes the cost. Some students are paying a whopping $5 per week (no, that's not a typo) for full time care. The drawbacks to a college child care center for non-students is that they may have age limits and they usually follow the school's academic calendar, which isn't always your calendar, so it's good to do your homework first.

The au pair option is also a great one. We used one for our two kids, and it was a great experience. They got to have someone new in the house who brought a different cultural perspective to share. She got to experience the US for a year, made some great friends, and took some classes that helped her decide on her career direction. She's now back home in Germany finishing up college and we still keep in touch. Of course, she watched the kids, but since the au pair lives with you, she also provided a lot of things a conventional day care situation does not. She drove the kids to & from school, took care of their meals when she was "on the clock," did their laundry, cleaned up their rooms and took them on outings. And Blueporch is absolutely right - you can't beat the price if you have more than one kid! Our au pair's salary was a little over $7200 for the whole year. Then you add the cost of a couple classes at the local community college and a few extra costs (we gave her a tip each month, plus she ate with us and traveled with us, etc.) and it probably cost a total of around $10,000 for the year.

Compare that to the cost of pre-school that we pay now - around $6000 for 3 days a week. And no one to drive her to school, pick her up and take care of her the other 2 days! (We use grandparents on the other 2 days and pay for additional activities). And that's for only one of our kids. Luckily the other one is in school now, but we still have to be sure one of us is available afterschool every day or pay for activities/extra care.

We've also used our local community centers and schools/churches for referrals to good sitters and we swap out play dates and pick-ups with other parents. These resources and being fortunate enough to have grandparents at the ready have been invaluable resources in the endless quest for quality child care. Can't say enough about networking - it will save your life!

[Julie Rains]

These are all great ideas. I'll also mention Carrie's post Timeshare a Nanny on our sister blog (parentingsquad).

[Carrie Kirby]

Thanks for the link, Julie. Nanny sharing is a more affordable way for people with only one or two kids to get the benefits of a nanny, but it still could not be considered "cheap."

Decent child care is so, so expensive. We did the nanny share, but it still cost us $9 an hour on regular days and bumped up up $12 anytime we had the nanny to ourselves. It took about half of my after-tax income, which is part of why I eventually became a stay-at-home mother.

If you or your spouse (or better, both) are able to work out a flexible work plan, one affordable method is to trade off care with another part-time-working family. Say, you take both kids on Tuesday and Thursday, and another mom takes them Monday and Wednesday. Personally, I didn't feel up to this because I felt I'd always either be working or busy caring for someone else's child and I'd never have downtime to get my housework done or whatnot. But as my kids age and playing with other kids becomes more about them and less about me, I'd consider doing some trading or even taking in an extra kid after school for cash.

I wrote this post (and Part II) about setting up a parent coop. We've used this method for occasional babysitting, but it can also be used for regular workday exchanges.

Xin, if you can't get parents to come from China to care for your kids (supporting them, if necessary, would be worth it, in my book) I honestly think it's worth investing in the very best childcare you can afford, or doing it yourself. It's only a few years before the little ones can go to public school for free.

Look at it this way: My baby is awake about 12 hours a day. If you are working 8 hours a day, with another hour for lunch and transportation time, a baby spends twice as much waking time with the caregivers than he/she does with you (assuming 3 hours of naps during the day). All the research these days points to the importance of brain development and learning during the first 5 years of life. Personally, I feel that financial sacrifice to make sure the first five years go well is more important than financial planning for those college years.

[Xin Lu]

Wow, thanks for a lot of good ideas. My parents actually live here and have their own lives. They make way more money than me and my husband, too. So basically they're like..no way we'll be your babysitters. They said they might help on the weekends, but for daycare I will be on my own. Church is a possible good place to find people who would help I guess. Anyway, it will be a couple years until I actually have a kid, but I am reading a lot of stuff in advance.

[Julie Rains]

Originally Posted by Carrie Kirby

Thanks for the link, Julie. Nanny sharing is a more affordable way for people with only one or two kids to get the benefits of a nanny, but it still could not be considered "cheap."

You're right -- I had never seen "cheap" and "quality child care" in the same sentence so I went with the quality thought.