cost of DayCare Centers..

[hollyd99]

Oh my. $1000 a month?

I can say thet I am lucky to live in Canada!

Here we get A LOT of funding from the government. I can also tell you from experience that the Provincial offices that get the money to create the funded spaces make the daycare centres jump through hoops to get it.

Compared to you guys, daycare here IS affordable, but there are no spaces.
The provincial daycare offices make it difficult for new centres to open because of all the hoop jumping.

PS: Babies cost way more because the child care workers need extra training, and of course the staffing ratios are very small.

 

[summerrluvv]

Well, out here on Long island. An infant is 380 a week. If that makes you feel better. I have to pay 280 for my 4 year old.

I'm on Long Island and DD was in daycare up until June. I paid $245 a week for infant care for 45 hours a week at a highly rated center in Suffolk. I guess I got a deal huh They don't provide meals though.

 

[Vility]

I have two in full time daycare!
If I didn't have a discount, I wouldn't be able to afford to keep them in!

 

[Miss LD]

Oh my. $1000 a month?

I can say thet I am lucky to live in Canada!

Here we get A LOT of funding from the government. I can also tell you from experience that the Provincial offices that get the money to create the funded spaces make the daycare centres jump through hoops to get it.

Compared to you guys, daycare here IS affordable, but there are no spaces.
The provincial daycare offices make it difficult for new centres to open because of all the hoop jumping.

PS: Babies cost way more because the child care workers need extra training, and of course the staffing ratios are very small.

I'm in Canada too, and daycare is far higher than $1000 per month. I'm not sure where you are, but I'm in Ontario. Subsidies are municipal here, not provincial, and the funded spaces are for fairly low incomes.

I agree about the lack of spaces. My 4 year old is still on a list I put him on when I was pregnant! I called about it a couple of months ago and there are still about 50 kids ahead of him!

 

[KSG'sDisneyMem]

I worked in MA at a corporate child care center. Rates were about $225 for infants and $165 for preschool, full time. I was a supervisor and it cost the company, out of pocket, close to $2 million per year. What must be considered is teacher salaries, cost of rental/mortgage of the building, property taxes and not to mention insurance coverage for such a place!! Add in cost of utilities (heat, hot water, electricity, trash pick up, maintanence of the building etc...) and we also provided diaper wipes, 2 snacks per day, paper towels, soaps, sunscreen, paper plates, plastic utensils, washer and dryer for bibs, blankets, sheets, soft toys etc... and a dishwasher for sippy cups, sterilizing infant teethers, and serving utensils, serving bowls etc... Okay so now we have not even begun to discuss the cost of tables, chairs, sleep mats, rugs, shelves, toys, arts/crafts supplies such as paints, markers, paper, crayons, pencils, chalks, chalkboards, collage materials, paintbrushes and the list goes on and on. So now we have to look at the outdoor environment too...riding bikes/trikes, playground equipment for each age group (thousands of dollars each!!) sand toys, water play and equipment, balls, basketball hoops, bats, soccer nets etc... And then because we were in south central MA the never ending snow removal!!! I was a supervisor for this program, 13 classrooms, so a pretty large center. I can tell you we were fortunate because the company believed in providing quality child care for it's employees. If they didn't the cost for parents would have been much more. We are also a newly Accredited Center. I was fortunate and am not looking forward to looking for work again in my new location because it will be hard not to compare. I had to leave because DH is active duty army and we have been sent to Fort Knox. I am originally from central MA and the quality of care is good as I am sure it is in other areas as well. In my previous position I had to do most of the purchasing of the above listed supplies so I know how challenging it is. Kudos to all of you out there who run your own centers. It is a big job and a huge responsibility to care and educate young children. It is the kind of job that you have to love, which I do!! and requires a lot of dedication. Best wishes to all of us early childhood educators and to the parents who believe in us and entrust their children into our care. I am also a parent, and grandparent, and can relate to the challenge of leaving your children in the care of others. The new accreditation process is extremely involved and requires a ton of work. If your children are in newly accredited centers you can bet the staff and families have worked extremely hard for that achievement.

 

[NY_MOM]

I know in Westchester NY, a homebased childcare faciltiy will run a family about$300 a week and a preschool setting 18mo-5 years will run a family anywhere from $325-$400 a week depending on the age. The younger the child the more money you pay. That's one of the reasons why I decided to leave my teaching job of 41/2 years and stay home when I had my DD in 2003. The paychecks would be going right to childcare! I just felt my DD would be better off at home with me as well, it's been an amazing time for us.

 

[disneynut14]

I am just North of Boston and pay $640 a week ( that is not a typo) for my DS (6 months) and DD (2 years) to attend a large national daycare provider.

It is very expensive ($640 is with the 10% multichild discount) but I find that it is worth every penny. They are curriculum based and the children are very stimulated.

 

[WindyCityDisney]

I am just North of Boston and pay $640 a week ( that is not a typo) for my DS (6 months) and DD (2 years) to attend a large national daycare provider.

It is very expensive ($640 is with the 10% multichild discount) but I find that it is worth every penny. They are curriculum based and the children are very stimulated.

Chicago prices are pretty close to that, too. I'm so glad that (1) we could make it happen for DH to become a SAHD and (2) that we have only one year left until full-day school for both kids.

 

[jess98ac]

I'm in the Hartford, CT, area and my DD starts daycare in 2 weeks...$270/wk for infants. We looked at 3 places, one was $220, one was $315 and then the one we chose is $270. This includes nothing but a crib sheet! We have to provide all food, diapers, wipes, etc.

 

[mom2my3kids]

I am just North of Boston and pay $640 a week ( that is not a typo) for my DS (6 months) and DD (2 years) to attend a large national daycare provider.

It is very expensive ($640 is with the 10% multichild discount) but I find that it is worth every penny. They are curriculum based and the children are very stimulated.

 

[AmyBWV99]

We only have one child in day care when his Dr said he needed to have social interaction w/his peers w/o me to be his crutch so I work 2 mornings a week.

He goes 8-11:30am 3 days a week beacuse that's the minimum they will take so i get Friday mornings to have some one on one time with the baby. That runs us $95 per week. 10.5 hours so roughly $9 per hour.

I think infants there are running $205 a week now on the last sheet i saw our DS didn't start until he was nearly 2. We live in Iowa.

 

[pmama]

Wow, how can you all afford to work?

 

[Nicoleclaw]

Does anyone have their kids in Before and After care? I'm thinking about going back to work, and I would need to put DS8 in Before/After care. He would be there about 30 min in the AM and about 30 min in the pm. I called around some of the local daycares and was shocked. I got quotes from $90-$125. I thought that was a lot. Mind you, he would only be in their care for an hour a day.

I was going to use my dd's elementary school's before and after care. It was $75 a month for an hour before school and $75 a month for every hour after (pick up by 4 it is 75, by 5 is 150, etc). But then they called and said that they cant run the before care!! SO now she has to go to a daycare and get the school bus there. It is 180 a month for her to be there for alittle over an hour! If we did the after care, it would be 385 a month total. The school's would have cost us 225 total to pick her up by 5. We are doing the daycare before and school's after, so it is 330 a month.
My ds goes to a daycare that cost 200 a week, but they did give us (all the teachers from the school next door) a deal, it is usually more like 250 a week.

 

[Nicoleclaw]

Wow, how can you all afford to work?

I can't afford not to work even with paying 1300 a month in daycare. I have free benefits and to add the level of insurance I have on at dh;s job would cost us a TON of money, plus I would be losing the money I am making after the cost of daycare.

 

[alyssa810]

It's the insurance that keeps me working!! A good chunk of my salary does go to daycare, but we wouldn't be able to afford our mortgage and health insurance and still be able to maintain the lifestyle we've come to enjoy with our trips to WDW and our DVC membership on my husband's salary alone. Plus my DS is getting wonderful care and learning social skills at his school; I think his school has helped him to be a well rounded little guy; he's happy, he's a good sharer of toys, he plays well by himself and with others.

 

[TinaLala]

I actually stopped working full time because my daycare was over $1500 a month for 2 kids - that was more than my mortgage at the time. It wasn't worth it. I stayed home with them and worked at night for 4 years and now I work while they are at school 9-3. There are jobs out there like that because companies don't want to pay for benefits and are willing to hire part time workers.

I'm not keen on home care either or having a friend watch your kids because sometimes that friendship can become problematic over how that person is treating their kids to your kids or leaving your house at the end of the day.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I have been reading all your responses and I just had to comment. I can't believe how much some of you are paying. How can you afford to work? I am a home daycare provider, and I charge $150.00 week for infants full time and $125.00 per week for children over 18 months full time. I try to keep my fee low because I know that the parents are struggling to pay the bills too. One mom told me she gives me half her pay check each week. I felt so bad, but I couldn't lower her rates. I need to pay for extra insurance on my daycare, daycare and first aid/cpr classes that are required yearly by my state, high food bills since I provide food, huge utility bills, and lots of damage to my house. One 8 year old child stuffed my cat in a box, and broke its leg, so we also had vet bills to pay. (the mom did offer to pay that, but I declined) I also have to pay my self employment taxes. After all that I try to work with part time parents and not charge them too much, but if someone brings their child only 2 or 3 days a week it is really hard to fill that spot the other days that week.


Just to let you know, it isn't all pure profit for a daycare provider. Many people don't realize all of our expenses. I've been really frustrated trying to accomadate everyones schedule, keep expenses low, and still make a decent income (for disney vacations of course)

PS. The 2 little boys on my lap want to see dancing bananas.

 

[kim929]

Me and my husband work diffrent shifts but we had a small gap after school. I am paying 100.00 a week for my ds to go to daycare after school for 2 hours a day. The good part is on school vacations, and days off I can still bring him it will be 2 hours earlier then it would be and they are still keeping it at 100.00 week.

 

[thomascaldwell1]

We pay $100 for our 3-1/2 year old to go to a Learning Center. They provide everything for the child there no need to bring anything from home....

 

[RadioFanatic]

for my 6 month old, it's $220 a week.