re: Daycare cost versus stay at home mom

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Just hire a nanny

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We're going to go the AUPair route, I'm taking off until all that gets figured out. My career is one I can work anywhere at anytime.

At least your kids will know how to speak Guatemalan.

Please let her do it. We're dying to hear how hard she has it.

Sorry you’re not cut out to be a parent.

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y. I can definitely tell a difference between my oldest and the middle child. Oldest was more social and well developed because she went to full time daycare for almost 5 years before starting school. The second one was home all day a few days a week and only got out of the house the few times he went for a half day.

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This would seem to be obvious but it's highly situationally dependent. Some daycares have smaller groups of kids or mostly keep them separated or don't engage in a lot of activity that promotes socialization. Like just plopping them in front of the TV all day to stare at it. Some parents that stay home with their kids do a lot of things to socialize them. My kids are 3 and 5, have stayed home their whole life and are highly social. If you're a parent that's more of a homebody then you probably shouldn't try to raise your kids. But it's going to cost you unless you want fricked up kids cuz you're going to have to pay good money to send them to a good daycare that really engages the children and pays their workers well.

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I don't know. On one end, the baby is home all day during winter in MN (can't go outside or go anywhere); on the other end, a daycare can provide a needed social interaction

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This is actually huge and it's really never talked about. Also a huge driver of a lot of cultural differences between Northerners and Southerners.

In the South, we can go to the park and do things outside 12 months out of the year. In fact, for a lot of people the Winters are even better to be outside because they're fairly mild whereas the Summers can be brutal and a lot of people will just hide inside in the air condition. The exact opposite happens up north but y'alls Winters are a lot longer than our summers so y'all are huddled up inside even longer. That alone can be the deciding factor in whether or not to send your kids to daycare. Down here, we can bring our kids to the park all year and get them socialized. Up there, 6-8 months out of the year your kids are stuck inside with just their parents.

We had 2 in daycare for a year or so, and not gonna lie it was tough. Even with all kinds of sacrifices(no trips, seldom eating out, etc.) there were some lean weeks. Like $10 in the checking account on Monday and neither of us got paid until Friday. We came out of the year with some unwanted credit card debt as a result, but were able to pay that off within a few months of the oldest starting kindergarten. Believe our combined salaries at the time was around $90k.

Part of our struggle though was our second came along right at the start of the financial crisis, and my wife was working in banking at the time. She took a decent pay cut when her bank revoked her auto allowance and her company cell phone.

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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.

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I’m assuming you don’t live in Louisiana. If you do, that’s illegal.

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She is not doing it for the money, she is just getting worn out being with a needy 5 months old baby all day;

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prayers sent for your future if this is too much.

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$760 a month in Lake Charles and I thought that was high but now I’m thinking we are lucky

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When we had 2 in, we were paying around $2,000 per month. And that was after a second kid discount. The diaper fee for the infant negated that discount.

By the time our youngest was almost done there, it was $1150 per month. There were a few cheaper ones around, but the quality wasn't as good as the one we used. They were basically babysitters, while the one we used had a structured schedule with some learning lessons.