All the parents saying they can’t afford childcare - what did they do before K?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even if camps will be available for school age kids, it's a higher cost than just paying for after care. People planned their kids and budgets based on 5 day per week school being available. There should be a child care subsidy for families if school isn't open. Unemployment was extended due to the pandemic, why not child care costs?

Because your kids are your responsibility and there's nothing stopping people from having 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 kids as shown above.

Time to dip into those emergency savings. I also believe tax penalties from early withdrawals out of 401Ks have been suspended during the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Camps in Arlington typcially sell put quickly. With lower capacity due to social distancing and a lack of other options, there wont be enough capacity. It's not just about finding the money. There literally aren't going to be enough slots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if camps will be available for school age kids, it's a higher cost than just paying for after care. People planned their kids and budgets based on 5 day per week school being available. There should be a child care subsidy for families if school isn't open. Unemployment was extended due to the pandemic, why not child care costs?

Because your kids are your responsibility and there's nothing stopping people from having 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 kids as shown above.

Time to dip into those emergency savings. I also believe tax penalties from early withdrawals out of 401Ks have been suspended during the pandemic.

This is terrible financial advice.

[Anonymous]

We paid for the first and it was so expensive. We spaced out our children and had our second when DC1 was in preK. I ended up staying home with DC2 so we didn’t have to pay the daycare rates since we determined it wasn’t worth it on my teacher salary.

Now you are telling me to pay for two since they are both in school. We can’t find places that will guarantee they will be open for mid and late elementary. All say maybe and probably but they don’t know yet. My solution to daycare before was to quit my teaching job. Is this what you are suggesting I do again since we figured it out before?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if camps will be available for school age kids, it's a higher cost than just paying for after care. People planned their kids and budgets based on 5 day per week school being available. There should be a child care subsidy for families if school isn't open. Unemployment was extended due to the pandemic, why not child care costs?

Because your kids are your responsibility and there's nothing stopping people from having 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 kids as shown above.

Time to dip into those emergency savings. I also believe tax penalties from early withdrawals out of 401Ks have been suspended during the pandemic.

This is terrible financial advice.

So is asking the government to pay for your kids' childcare costs. You have the money but everyone else is supposed to fork out for your precious babies because you don't want to spend it?

Give me a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We paid for the first and it was so expensive. We spaced out our children and had our second when DC1 was in preK. I ended up staying home with DC2 so we didn’t have to pay the daycare rates since we determined it wasn’t worth it on my teacher salary.

Now you are telling me to pay for two since they are both in school. We can’t find places that will guarantee they will be open for mid and late elementary. All say maybe and probably but they don’t know yet. My solution to daycare before was to quit my teaching job. Is this what you are suggesting I do again since we figured it out before?

Yup, OP/PP is a jerk!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if camps will be available for school age kids, it's a higher cost than just paying for after care. People planned their kids and budgets based on 5 day per week school being available. There should be a child care subsidy for families if school isn't open. Unemployment was extended due to the pandemic, why not child care costs?

Because your kids are your responsibility and there's nothing stopping people from having 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 kids as shown above.

Time to dip into those emergency savings. I also believe tax penalties from early withdrawals out of 401Ks have been suspended during the pandemic.

This is terrible financial advice.

So is asking the government to pay for your kids' childcare costs. You have the money but everyone else is supposed to fork out for your precious babies because you don't want to spend it?

Give me a break.

I sometimes wonder what it’s like having to go through life being this nasty. Just zero empathy.

[Anonymous]

Uuuhhh, we already paid for daycare in the for of school through our taxes. Give me back my 35k in state and local taxes that i paid this year and then I'll put my kid in daycare. Otherwise, open the schools and quit complaining that I should be willing to drop an extra $20k in daycare indefinitely at the drop of a hat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We paid for the first and it was so expensive. We spaced out our children and had our second when DC1 was in preK. I ended up staying home with DC2 so we didn’t have to pay the daycare rates since we determined it wasn’t worth it on my teacher salary.

Now you are telling me to pay for two since they are both in school. We can’t find places that will guarantee they will be open for mid and late elementary. All say maybe and probably but they don’t know yet. My solution to daycare before was to quit my teaching job. Is this what you are suggesting I do again since we figured it out before?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

Many overspend on housing and other things so they have nothing extra.

[Anonymous]

Are Tiger Den and ballet studios even going to offer things? Someone on another thread said her friend owns a place and with social distancing requirements and caps on capacity, it was something like 100 or 150/day per kid. So 300 -400week and 1500/month. Which is average for summer camps for the whole week and is on significant on top of Before/ after care for the days they are in school. Even at two school aged kids, which is not 5-7 kids, that is more than 3000 a month in additional care expenses. The person on the other thread said a lot of places won’t even offer these programs because it is so cost prohibitive and there will not be enough interest. Not sure how true that is but what happens if these programs don’t open?

Also I wonder if they will have the same issue that schools have with some staff not returning because they are higher risk and worried about masks and social distancing and all that. Like if I was a trained ballerina and ballet teacher, I would not want to also have to run a full day “camp” every day for different groups of school aged kids. I would want to teach my normal classes.

And can these places offer extended day? I would imagine a ballet studio or martial arts studio would not want to miss out on teaching the regular students who have been making progress with them for years, but you can’t teach your level 4 students and also have camp going, can you? It just all seems so complicated and there are so many unknowns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uuuhhh, we already paid for daycare in the for of school through our taxes. Give me back my 35k in state and local taxes that i paid this year and then I'll put my kid in daycare. Otherwise, open the schools and quit complaining that I should be willing to drop an extra $20k in daycare indefinitely at the drop of a hat.

School is not child care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uuuhhh, we already paid for daycare in the for of school through our taxes. Give me back my 35k in state and local taxes that i paid this year and then I'll put my kid in daycare. Otherwise, open the schools and quit complaining that I should be willing to drop an extra $20k in daycare indefinitely at the drop of a hat.

Not gonna happen, but feel free to keep stomping your feet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We paid for the first and it was so expensive. We spaced out our children and had our second when DC1 was in preK. I ended up staying home with DC2 so we didn’t have to pay the daycare rates since we determined it wasn’t worth it on my teacher salary.

Now you are telling me to pay for two since they are both in school. We can’t find places that will guarantee they will be open for mid and late elementary. All say maybe and probably but they don’t know yet. My solution to daycare before was to quit my teaching job. Is this what you are suggesting I do again since we figured it out before?

Yes. That is life as a parent. It is your responsibility not the governments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uuuhhh, we already paid for daycare in the for of school through our taxes. Give me back my 35k in state and local taxes that i paid this year and then I'll put my kid in daycare. Otherwise, open the schools and quit complaining that I should be willing to drop an extra $20k in daycare indefinitely at the drop of a hat.

I paid for roads, schools I don't use, firefighters (never had a house fire), libraries (I buy all my books and newspapers), county administration, public pools (don't use it), etc.

Should I get my money back?