re: Daycare cost versus stay at home mom

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Sounds like you shouldn’t have had a kid then

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I'm already 40 and she is 26. it's now or never

Paying 750 for a good one in BR.

Tell wife to find part time job. Raise your kid some days and the drop your kid off on other days. Win

Does your wife really want to get into the rat race? Seriously, it’s a grind, maybe she would benefit from an occasional Mother’s Day out. It’s always better for a Mom to raise the baby, her career can wait a bit. Good luck.

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What is the cost to her career by sitting out for years?

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That's the thing, We are concerned if she sits out, she won't be able to gain experience for successful career down the road. This is her dream job. CAD sketcher at an engineering firm

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My wife went back to work and half her money goes to daycare. She couldn’t handle staying at home. Too social. It was either go back to work or start fricking Jody. She did both

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Boy, that escalated quickly.

Tell your wife welcome to being a mother and not to count on other people to raise your child since she doesn’t have to work. She can get a babysitter every so often and take some self time.

The cost of her farming it out is much more costly than the daycare fee.

My advice is to find a home daycare with good word of mouth. Or a solid church daycare that you have connections to.

I’m sure some daycare centers are great, but our experience with them were awful. So glad to have gotten into our current home daycare. Only two caretakers (plus one sub who is actually the daughter of the main caretaker) for 12 kids. Only two infants allowed per year.

I know it’s rare, but they do exist.

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our thoughts exactly, but she recently graduated and this job is a huge stepping stone towards a good career

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You probably ought to lead with that rather than "she wants to get away from her needy infant"

I'm a stay at home dad now, my son is two and a half, and daughter is 8 months. Daycare was costing us $2,600 a month, plus days for care when they were closed or the kids were sick. Add in the stress of getting them to two different daycares and coordinating pickups, it's just better this way. I made more than the wife, but she has killer benefits.

I've been doing this a month now. It's taxing as hell, but getting better with a routine. I figure I'll stick it out for another year, until we're closer to family again.