Got an offer to work in a daycare... WOW!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like this is a troll thread started as a way to bash daycare. The first two posts seem like they are from the same person.

OP here. Not at all. Daycare can be awesome. My DD loved hers, and so did I but now I think about how little the teachers must have been paid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like this is a troll thread started as a way to bash daycare. The first two posts seem like they are from the same person.

OP here. Not at all. Daycare can be awesome. My DD loved hers, and so did I but now I think about how little the teachers must have been paid.

What kind of job did you have while you were paying for daycare? Why would you not go back to that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not get a nanny job at $15-$20 an hour?

I can probably answer this one, as someone who employs nannies. First of all, she can't bring her child. Second, I need her here a lot more than 30 hrs a week. Third, any references from previous nanny jobs? There is a lot less flexibility in being someone's nanny than there is in working at a daycare. It can also be somewhat lonely, depending on the age of the child(ren) and the needs/demands of the family. You're the only one in charge. It's not for everyone, which is why the good ones make double what daycare workers make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like this is a troll thread started as a way to bash daycare. The first two posts seem like they are from the same person.

I agree. If her husband is making more in one day than she could make in a week then I find it hard to believe she is paying the "marriage penalty" and the slam at the ACA seems out of nowhere.

Nope - I would literally be netting 600 a month, which DH can easily earn by working a few saturday mornings a month. And if I work at a job grossing 20k a year, that income will not be taxed at the rate of whoever makes 20,000, but at the rate between 90k -110k, (DH will make about 90k this year)

And I have nothing but love for President Obama, but sorry, the ACA is a hot mess (with its heart in the right place, of course!). We need single payer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Teachers at our daycare have been there 5-25 years. We don't want you.

^ see the cattiness I was describing lol

I'm a parent, not a daycare teacher. I love that our daycare protects and respects its staff, even though they don't make much. Id hate for my kid to have a teacher with an attitude like yours. Stay away.

What attitude? About money? If money shouldn't matter, why aren't you happy to give up your time for 11 per hour for the good of society?

I work at a nonprofit for much less than I could make in corporate, because I believe in the mission and don't see my work as "giving up my time."

What's your education level and previous work experience, OP?

Bachelor's in Fine Arts, previous work experience - worked in preschools over summers in college - taught preschoolers and elem. aged kids English in Japan, 7 unrelated professional experience. I am tired of going to a cubicle, so I expect a tradeoff.

Still didn't answer my question - would you do what you do for 11 per hour?

No, but I have more experience and education than most of the teachers at my daycare.

You are overqualified and that makes you bitchy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like this is a troll thread started as a way to bash daycare. The first two posts seem like they are from the same person.

I agree. If her husband is making more in one day than she could make in a week then I find it hard to believe she is paying the "marriage penalty" and the slam at the ACA seems out of nowhere.

Is the truth about the quality of life of daycare workers that hard to swallow? Jeff can confirm that I (1st poster to respond to the OP) am not the OP. Look it really sucks. I'm not even vested in the arguement because I'm not a teacher nor do I have kids in daycare. I just know what I hear every single day from my friend and happened across the post. That's why I suggested OP think long and hard about it.

[Anonymous]

A daycare is not the same as a preschool. Some daycares are glorified babsitters. Would you pay a baby sitter more $20/hr for one child if the sitter was also watching 10 other kids? Probably not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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That is low pay for what should be considered and treated as important work. Did they give you any idea of a timeline for pay raises and what kind of raises you could expect?

Exactly my point. I do know that I can expect a small raise if I get a CDA (I have a bachelors, not in early childhood or ed.) and the turnover really does worry me.
Sorry, catty PP, but it sounds like you have created a narrative of how things should be, that doesn't exist. There really is a very limited supply of nice aunties and grannies who are in purely for the love of children. I love kids and I have bills to pay like anyone else. That's reality.

Sorry, what is CDA?

So, even with a BA, you would need to get an associate degree to get a small raise? Is that a two year degree? Would this be at night and weekends or before taking the job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A daycare is not the same as a preschool. Some daycares are glorified babsitters. Would you pay a baby sitter more $20/hr for one child if the sitter was also watching 10 other kids? Probably not.

Even Montessori pays 11-12 an hour.

[Anonymous]

isn't one benefit to working at a daycare having the ability to make money on top of being able to see your own child regularly (because they can be cared for in the center, often for free)? so it's really the base salary plus the cost of childcare that should be counted, for those with kids.

[Anonymous]

But don't the daycare workers get lots of bonuses and presents from parents? I know I give all the teachers in my kids' rooms cash presents for Xmas and every time my child moves up to the next room, I give a bonus to the workers in the old room ($50 each). With all the parents doing something similar, that's got to be something, right? Although I agree, they are definitely not getting paid enough for the hard work that they do.

[Anonymous]

many are working on an education degree while working at daycares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like this is a troll thread started as a way to bash daycare. The first two posts seem like they are from the same person.

OP here. Not at all. Daycare can be awesome. My DD loved hers, and so did I but now I think about how little the teachers must have been paid.

What kind of job did you have while you were paying for daycare? Why would you not go back to that?

Because I realized that I'd rather be healthy than wealthy in retirement. Sitting in an office chair and commuter car for the next 30 years isn't going to get me there. There were people in my office who had fattened into the shape of their office chairs. For real. I know that's extreme, but I think it is really hard to be active while working a 9-5 with commute and left me with little time to cook healthy meals.

Besides, I really do like taking care of kids. I was SAHM for 3 years, but now older DC is in elementary school and younger DC is lonely and would rather be in full-day.

[Anonymous]

Former SAHM is not the typical daycare worker. Often they are foreign born and love kids. Or they are young and working on a related degree. Surprised you didn't know this OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like this is a troll thread started as a way to bash daycare. The first two posts seem like they are from the same person.

OP here. Not at all. Daycare can be awesome. My DD loved hers, and so did I but now I think about how little the teachers must have been paid.

What kind of job did you have while you were paying for daycare? Why would you not go back to that?

Because I realized that I'd rather be healthy than wealthy in retirement. Sitting in an office chair and commuter car for the next 30 years isn't going to get me there. There were people in my office who had fattened into the shape of their office chairs. For real. I know that's extreme, but I think it is really hard to be active while working a 9-5 with commute and left me with little time to cook healthy meals.

Besides, I really do like taking care of kids. I was SAHM for 3 years, but now older DC is in elementary school and younger DC is lonely and would rather be in full-day.

I get it OP. I was a SAHM for 4 years until about 18 months ago when I took a 20 hour a week part-time job for $11 as an aide in an elementary school. The pay wasn't good, but I liked the fact that I was working for pay again, I had adult colleagues, and my hours were consistent and allowed me to be home with my kids before and after school. I worked at the job all last school year and then spent the summer finding a different, better paying job.