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Stories

In my area, affordable childcare does not exist. There is expensive childcare that is not high quality, and there is high quality childcare that is not affordable. I have been working as a teacher, and I quickly learned that the teachers I work with have family members who take care of their...Read more
Kathleen
Well, I guess I'm one of the "lucky" ones in the working middle class who makes just enough money to justify keeping a job and placing my two children in daycare. We couldn't afford full time care for both. So for three days a week, childcare costs more than my mortgage. In fact, when I balance my...Read more
Jeannine
My employer provides on site daycare. They subsidize it, so our teachers have good salaries, good benefits, healthcare, etc. It is an excellent center and the teachers have great longevity. The convenience was key to me being able to breast feed both of my daughters beyond their first birthday...Read more
Dina, Washington
I shopped around quite a bit while I was pregnant with my first child and right after he was born. I checked online mommy groups for advice and drove around my neighborhood. The places I found were not very nice and the biggest red flag was that the kids did not seem happy at most of the places...Read more
Dawn
I was a single parent with four children, ages 2 -10. (I had left an abusive husband and was supporting all the children on my own.) I had a terrible time finding a day care provider, but was told that this certain provider was one that the Social Services recommended, so they would help with day...Read more
Julie
We live in Marin County and childcare here costs atleast $15 per hour for a babysitter. Of course you can find lower, but they usually don't speak English. I don't make much more per hour than they do so it was pointless for me to work and just hand my earnings over to the babysitter. Instead we...Read more
Anonymous
I found a great family day care provider near my house, but it costs a quarter of my monthly income (and a quarter of my wife's income) in order to afford her great services. And she's one of the cheapest options we found in the area!Read more
Anonymous
When my first child was about to enter preschool, we did not know what to do. We could not afford a private preschool but we also did not qualify for Head Start. We found out about a public preschool (Heritage Child Development Center) that sounded great so we called them up. They had a number of...Read more
Lisa
My husband and I found ourselves with a surprise pregnancy when our two children were 10 and 12. At the time I was working full time as a nanny. By the end of the pregnancy I was working for the same family part time. I took off just under a month and went back to work for them part time, toting...Read more
Sandy, Washington
After about five years of paying for full-time child care that I couldn't afford, I had to remortgage the house to get out of the debt that I had incurred. I was working full-time out of necessity,and therefore paying for full-time child care of necessity. My husband lost his job when our son was...Read more
Anonymous

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