"Affordable Childcare"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2k childcare that's the problem right there

Look DC and other major cities are nuts from real estate prices to childcare costs etc

Subsidizing isn't the solution though. Look at healthcare you are taking from the middle class to give the lower class stuff for free.

The reality is if you aren't upper middle income you shouldn't be living in a high COL area. There are plenty of other palces around the country where you can survive on 10-15 bucks an hour

Rent is less than 700 for a nice big 1br and daycare is around 700 a month in many places around the country

Is there an award for the most elitist post ever on DCUM? And you want a family to live in a big 1 BR? I suspect PP was ditch delivered by a drab and raised by wolves.

FIne make it a 2br I don't care

Point being noone deserves to live anywhere or free healthcare or free childcare. Its called responsibiltiy and choosing an area where you can afford to live (of which there are plenty across the US) and/or making choices working hard/education to make more income to then afford to be able to live in higher COL areas. Call me elitist all you want. It's what normal people have been doing for generations instead of whining or demanding government do stuff for them

So if normal people are living elsewhere in the country, you must live here, PP.

This idea of affordable housing has expanded to such an extent that it is fueling "entitlement" attitudes. I live in a HCOL, with many high-end restaurants and shops. Developers are constructing a high-rise apartment building with rentals starting close to $3k for a 1-bedroom. But the county requires "workforce" housing so that the retail workers and waiters can afford to live there - and walk a block to work. (This is being paid for by taxpayers.) Rents for around 15% of these units will be a proportion of the income of these workers.

So here's the question: There are affordable apartment complexes around a mile or two away, with excellent bus service. Why do the taxpayers have to fund low-incime people living in luxury apartments (which I myself could not afford) so they get the convenience of walking to work instead of a five-minute bus ride. I work downtown, and my commute involves walking 10 minutes to the bus.....then taking the bus to metro.....then a 25-minute ride to DC....then another 10 minute walk to the office. Why do we think it's such a hardship for the low-income to take the bus?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Point being noone deserves to live anywhere or free healthcare or free childcare. Its called responsibiltiy and choosing an area where you can afford to live (of which there are plenty across the US) and/or making choices working hard/education to make more income to then afford to be able to live in higher COL areas. Call me elitist all you want. It's what normal people have been doing for generations instead of whining or demanding government do stuff for them

Do you want the FDA to stop monitoring for Ecoli in food? Do you want the EPA to stop enforcing clean air and water regulations? Do you think people should demand that there not be lead in their water? Is that whining? Do you think the government should help people who are mentally or physically disabled (or should we just tell them to work harder and get an education)? Do you think old people should get Medicare? Do you think kids should get free K-12 education? Do you think there should be a minimum wage? Do you think your garbage should be collected (or maybe you should do that yourself)? Do you think plows should come down your street when it snows? Do you think potholes should be fixed? Do you think those people should be paid enough to live in your high COLA area? Or should they drive in every day from West Virginia? What about police and fire protection? How much are you willing to pay to make sure those people are available and live close enough so they aren't totally burned out from driving here? Do you think they should be able to have children if they want them? What kind of place do you want to live in? Do you like other people?

Have you benefited from any of these things?

+1

Of course we need governement, I am a big proponet of education for example (as long as its effective), I even support a temporary safety net

We can have discussions about the size of government and how to make it as small and efficient as possible though

[Anonymous]

The other thing Europe gets is college shouldn't be for everyone

We have way too many people going to college dropping out and being saddled with debt

I think people are getting the message on this and it is correcting itself through market forces.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The other thing Europe gets is college shouldn't be for everyone

We have way too many people going to college dropping out and being saddled with debt

I think people are getting the message on this and it is correcting itself through market forces.

Maybe they're dropping out because college wasn't for them in the first place? (An attrition rate of 25% after the first year isn't unusual, unless you're talking about the highly competitive Ivies.) They would have been better off going to a shorter vocational training program, learning a useful and often lucrative trade, and leaving without the huge debt load. This college-for-everyone goal is wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The other thing Europe gets is college shouldn't be for everyone

We have way too many people going to college dropping out and being saddled with debt

I think people are getting the message on this and it is correcting itself through market forces.

Maybe they're dropping out because college wasn't for them in the first place? (An attrition rate of 25% after the first year isn't unusual, unless you're talking about the highly competitive Ivies.) They would have been better off going to a shorter vocational training program, learning a useful and often lucrative trade, and leaving without the huge debt load. This college-for-everyone goal is wrong.

+1,000,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2k childcare that's the problem right there

Look DC and other major cities are nuts from real estate prices to childcare costs etc

Subsidizing isn't the solution though. Look at healthcare you are taking from the middle class to give the lower class stuff for free.

The reality is if you aren't upper middle income you shouldn't be living in a high COL area. There are plenty of other palces around the country where you can survive on 10-15 bucks an hour

Rent is less than 700 for a nice big 1br and daycare is around 700 a month in many places around the country

Actually rent on commercial spaces is one reason that cost of the daycare goes up so a way to subsidize all parents using daycare it to subsidize rent or provide incentives to owners to lower rents in some way for daycare or childcare spaces with the understanding that the cost of rent would be passed on to parents in terms of lower rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

from affordable, high-quality childcare [b]for their babies

????could someone describe this? Is this government run? Home care? What is it?

It starts with having teachers who are educated in early childhood education who understand early childhood development and can implement classrooms and strategies that support learning during the different developmental phases. Those teachers must make a live able salary in order to attract students to commit to the programs and by live able salary I mean on par with public school teacher salaries.

Thank you for chiming in Teacher Union rep

Sorry but no, I am not a teacher at all. Someone asked what makes high quality childcare and it's well established that having trained, quality teachers is the first step. Look at your standard daycare in downtown DC and who is working there now. If you replaced those staff with trained, educated degreed teachers who understood early childhood development (infant - age 3), then the quality of care would go up. Not the actual physical care of children which pretty much any nice person can be trained to do but the "education" part of care that is equated with closing achievement gaps later in life like speaking with children one on one and teaching appropriate behavior through positive means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2k childcare that's the problem right there

Look DC and other major cities are nuts from real estate prices to childcare costs etc

Subsidizing isn't the solution though. Look at healthcare you are taking from the middle class to give the lower class stuff for free.

The reality is if you aren't upper middle income you shouldn't be living in a high COL area. There are plenty of other palces around the country where you can survive on 10-15 bucks an hour

Rent is less than 700 for a nice big 1br and daycare is around 700 a month in many places around the country

Actually rent on commercial spaces is one reason that cost of the daycare goes up so a way to subsidize all parents using daycare it to subsidize rent or provide incentives to owners to lower rents in some way for daycare or childcare spaces with the understanding that the cost of rent would be passed on to parents in terms of lower rates.

The understanding part is just begging for unintended consequences

If you want people to have more money--give them money. The market, however, will find a way to ration limited services. Short of creating government institutions, there is no way to throw enough money at the stakeholders to lessen demand and increase supply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

from affordable, high-quality childcare [b]for their babies

????could someone describe this? Is this government run? Home care? What is it?

It starts with having teachers who are educated in early childhood education who understand early childhood development and can implement classrooms and strategies that support learning during the different developmental phases. Those teachers must make a live able salary in order to attract students to commit to the programs and by live able salary I mean on par with public school teacher salaries.

Thank you for chiming in Teacher Union rep

Sorry but no, I am not a teacher at all. Someone asked what makes high quality childcare and it's well established that having trained, quality teachers is the first step. Look at your standard daycare in downtown DC and who is working there now. If you replaced those staff with trained, educated degreed teachers who understood early childhood development (infant - age 3), then the quality of care would go up. Not the actual physical care of children which pretty much any nice person can be trained to do but the "education" part of care that is equated with closing achievement gaps later in life like speaking with children one on one and teaching appropriate behavior through positive means.

I'd love for anyone here to name a so-called high quality daycare for children, infant-age three or so, in the DC area.

I'd like to see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

from affordable, high-quality childcare [b]for their babies

????could someone describe this? Is this government run? Home care? What is it?

It starts with having teachers who are educated in early childhood education who understand early childhood development and can implement classrooms and strategies that support learning during the different developmental phases. Those teachers must make a live able salary in order to attract students to commit to the programs and by live able salary I mean on par with public school teacher salaries.

Thank you for chiming in Teacher Union rep

Sorry but no, I am not a teacher at all. Someone asked what makes high quality childcare and it's well established that having trained, quality teachers is the first step. Look at your standard daycare in downtown DC and who is working there now. If you replaced those staff with trained, educated degreed teachers who understood early childhood development (infant - age 3), then the quality of care would go up. Not the actual physical care of children which pretty much any nice person can be trained to do but the "education" part of care that is equated with closing achievement gaps later in life like speaking with children one on one and teaching appropriate behavior through positive means.

I'd love for anyone here to name a so-called high quality daycare for children, infant-age three or so, in the DC area.

I'd like to see it.

There are plenty, but they are very expensive. Not affordable to most people. Our child goes to one of the Wonders programs in MoCo and they are great. All their staff are trained in early childhood education and are constantly getting additional training. On top of this they are very warm and caring. For this we pay $2000 a month for an almost 3 year old. It's a LOT of money and I would not call it affordable, for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

from affordable, high-quality childcare [b]for their babies

????could someone describe this? Is this government run? Home care? What is it?

It starts with having teachers who are educated in early childhood education who understand early childhood development and can implement classrooms and strategies that support learning during the different developmental phases. Those teachers must make a live able salary in order to attract students to commit to the programs and by live able salary I mean on par with public school teacher salaries.

Thank you for chiming in Teacher Union rep

Sorry but no, I am not a teacher at all. Someone asked what makes high quality childcare and it's well established that having trained, quality teachers is the first step. Look at your standard daycare in downtown DC and who is working there now. If you replaced those staff with trained, educated degreed teachers who understood early childhood development (infant - age 3), then the quality of care would go up. Not the actual physical care of children which pretty much any nice person can be trained to do but the "education" part of care that is equated with closing achievement gaps later in life like speaking with children one on one and teaching appropriate behavior through positive means.

I'd love for anyone here to name a so-called high quality daycare for children, infant-age three or so, in the DC area.

I'd like to see it.

Both my children went to excellent home daycares in close NOVA suburbs. They weren't anywhere near $2,000 - more like $1,200 - $1,400. This was for small groups, great teacher ratios, own green space with play structures, organic homemade food and lots of affection. I would not put my kids in center daycares - I'm sure there's nothing wrong with them, but they are just too institutional-feeling to me. I work at the WB and could have put my babies at our daycare center at $2,200/month and a huge waitlist, but I didn't want that.

[Anonymous]

I'd love for anyone here to name a so-called high quality daycare for children, infant-age three or so, in the DC area.

I'd like to see it.

Kiddie Country in Burke, VA. Not a big chain. All teachers are certified. Small groups. It has been there for decades. Beautiful playground. Music program. Not cheap. You get what you pay for. I know about how horrible it can be . . . the money spent is well worth it.

[Anonymous]

^ Oh, it's for ages 2.5-kindergarten. Sorry. We used home care before that.

[Anonymous]

Do these amazing toddler teachers earn a decent living wage, or do they depend on their families for basic support?

Every parent should absolutely know what these people get paid for their hard work. Yes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do these amazing toddler teachers earn a decent living wage, or do they depend on their families for basic support?

Every parent should absolutely know what these people get paid for their hard work. Yes?

I worked at a daycare in college--admittedly some years ago--and would be willing to bet the answer to this question is NO. At the very least, the workers are not earning the type of wages required to rent an apartment reasonably close to work (even with a roommate earning about the same, this would be really tough unless they somehow qualified for a subsidized place), pay for health insurance and/or car insurance and/or student loans, food, etc.

I posted about this in some other thread, but the place where I worked was in a college town and most of the daycare workers eventually went on to become teachers or work with kids in some capacity. That was a good setup for everyone involved but aside from the people who ran the centers, no one was in it as a lifetime career. It was a lot different from places I saw while working in daycares in the DC Metro area during the summers when I was home.