Parents pull kids from day care as money tightens

[UpInArms]

Source: Associated Press

ROCKFORD, Ill. – The nation's economic troubles play out one family at a time at the New Horizons Learning Center in this struggling city two hours northwest of Chicago.

Some parents have been laid off and must pull their children out of the day care center until they can find a job. Others' employment hours have been cut, so they reduce their kids' attendance to a few days a week.

<snip>

"Even in the last couple weeks it feels like (economic troubles) are moving up in the next income level," said Toni Brown, who owns Stepping Stones Child's Center in nearby Roscoe. "First, the people living day-to-day who were immediately hit. Now it's hitting people who thought they were safe for a while."

General Motors Corp. this month announced plans to shut down its plant just across the state line in Janesville, Wis., putting 1,200 people out of work — and Brown is bracing for the repercussions.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081108/ap_on_bi_ge/meltdown_child_care

[Mari333]

1. thats why i drive an hour or more to babysit my grandson

2 days a week. both my son and his wife have jobs to get by, and to hold on they need a little help. its a win win. i love the little guy and enjoy being goofy with him, and he adores his gwamma.
whats ridiculous is that there is no day care available in any workplaces.
back when the US got involved in WW2, the women were asked to go into the factories to help with the war effort when the men were sent to war. The US govt created immediate daycare for these women at the factories.
There should be cheap, affordable daycare for everyone, (in my dreams), or jobs that pay enough for people to allow one parent to be home more.
extended families used to help each other a lot more, but its a more transitory nation as people move over and over to better jobs and families are farther away from each other.
slash the defense dept budget by one third and set up daycare centers for a long time. i would rather my tax dollars go to good daycare centers then to illegal wars.

[sugapablo]

3. Don't worry...

soon their won't be enough jobs for two parents to work...then one can stay home! (Yay!)

Where's that dripping with sarcasm emoticon....?

[Love Bug]

24. Believe it or not, Nixon actually pushed for government-run daycare

But it was shot down by those afraid we would turn into communists and the government would use the daycare centers to indoctrinate the little ones. Seem ridiculous now, doesn't it?

[abelenkpe]

36. right on! nt

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. Domino after domino after domino are falling.

This is why I have very little hope that the economy is going to be anything but much, much worse for the foreseeable future.

[Michigan-Arizona]

4. Finnfan I'm with you on this one

[curse of greyface]

5. You are very correct... Nt

[droidamus2]

8. You are right

What will happen when these day care centers lose enough customers that they have to shut down and the parents that can afford day care can't find it. They will have good paying jobs but nowhere to leave there kids while they work especially if both parents work. If one has to quit to take care of the kids now they are a bad financial situation because they have lost one paycheck.

[Delphinus]

16. I'm grateful for my job.

They don't have to pay unemployment insurance so I hope I don't get my hours cut ... or let go completely.

[Love Bug]

25. This is an example of true "trickle-down" economics

Day care is a huge expense for most families and it's no wonder it's the first to go when people are laid off.

[davsand]

6. I worry about those kids and their safety.

I can't imagine it is a good situation for any kid to be at home 24/7 with parents who are scared and frustrated. A lot of times there is no possibility of respite for those parents or those kids (no family or friends nearby) to give everybody a break from each other and I can see how that could become a recipe for disaster in some cases.

I also can see how maybe those kids will miss out on some early learning opportunities.

Safe daycare and early learning opportunity is so important, I hope we can get to a point where it is no longer an issue. I actually have some hope for movement on this, however, given the discussion that our next First Lady wants to have about working women and the family.



Laura

[Tansy_Gold]

14. "It takes a village"

Well, gee, maybe some of those laid-off parents could, you know, like organize something in their neighborhood? Babysit each other's kids or establish a free pre-school or something like that?

I dunno. It's kind of a really radical idea, but maybe it could work? Maybe?



Tansy Gold, who knows EXACTLY where the :sarcasm: icon is. :hi:

[davsand]

18. Oh--absolutely! That is EXACTLY what needs to happen.

A Co-op pre-school or nursery is an excellent solution to the problem and a lot of people just never stop to think about it. Funny thing, you can set that sort of thing up on a shoestring with a requirement of volunteer time or money from the participating parents and everyone benefits.

Something that I have wondered about for a long time is the idea that that you are unemployed or want job retraining, maybe Pre-K ed would be an excellent option. How come we can't start programs where people can train in early child ed and pre-schools while they are drawing unemployment? Sure would solve some of the need out there!

Similarly, I have always kind of wondered why we can't take unemployment and some of the welfare programs and turn them into a sort of training program that means you have to show up to collect your payments. At the end you have been trained in a new career AND you have a reference in that career. Seems like a good idea to me--but I'm sure I'm too simplistic in my views.

Anyhow, yes, I agree completely about neighborhood solutions to some of these issues.



Laura

[curse of greyface]

20. I really think daycare (esp Head Start) is overrated.

Parents that read around and to their kids have smart kids. Those that veg in front of the television often do not. All the head start classes in the world won't change that.

[LeftyMom]

21. The whole concept was created to give kids from disadvantaged homes what others already had

namely, exposure to books and letters prior to the start of their elementary education. There's really no need for a child who is read to regularly to be read to and played with by some ill-trained near-minimum wage worker (a shocking number of the preschools and childcare centers around here employ immigrant women who are barely literate in their native language, and hardly even conversant in English) rather than a parent.

The only real advantage is that it makes parents feel better to put the kid in "school" rather than daycare, because they can convince themselves it's too the child's benefit, which is why all the sudden when middle class women with young kids started working out of the home all the sudden there was a push for the idea of preschool programs being beneficial for all children, rather than a special effort to help underprivileged kids so that they wouldn't start school behind their middle class peers.

[curse of greyface]

23. I agreewith you. I have met some head start teachers in my travels.

And command of the English Language was not their strong suit.

I realize that many woman have to work outside the home. And I realize that others make that choice. But honestly which is better one semi-literate woman with her own children all day; Or a semi-literate stranger taking care of other peoples children all day?

[gaspee]

30. All these opinions

About Head Start. As a product of Head Start, I can say that not one other program had more impact on my life.

Head Start works. It's easy for middle class people to preach about Head Start - try looking at it from the point of view of people who benefit from it.

Such liberal views! :sarcasm:

[LeftyMom]

35. I'm Middle Class now?

Somebody please tell my bank account. :rofl:

[gaspee]

29. And exactly

What experience do you have with Head Start that forms your view?

As a person who attended Head Start and had parents who never read -- barely could read and both worked two jobs - Head Start is an amazing program that works.

You're dead wrong. I'd just like to know how you formed that opinion. Your experiences.

[curse of greyface]

39. dated a woman that volunteered and as a result met a few of the teachers.

Honestly I was shocked at the people running the place. They could barley speak English (And it was their first language)

It seemed like a dumping ground for slow people who wanted to be teachers.

The concept isn't awful it is the execution. People with low IQ's have a place in our society. teaching young children isn't one of them.

[JVS]

22. Isn't that why kids go out and play with other kids?

I don't think I ever spent a 24/7 week with my parents after the age of 3

[marshall]

7. Next step--put the kids in foster care?

That's what happened to many families in the great depression.

[gaspee]

31. My grandmother and two siblings

Never went back to birth parents, either.

[CountAllVotes]

9. ah the return of the Latchkey kid

I grew up this way myself having a disabled brother. The cost of his care alone left nothing for babysitters nor childcare centers for my brother and me.

This was in the early 1960s however. Things have changed a lot since then.

I find this very sad for both the parents and the children. You grow up the hard way fending for yourself much of the time being no one is around to help or assist.

[curse of greyface]

10. I was a latchkey kid also... damn kids today with there supervised

playtime and constant nannying. Bah.

[CountAllVotes]

11. I'll have to admit ...

there was a cheap babysitter my mother hired a few times when they were away at night. Neither my brother or I liked said babysitter. She was an awful cook. :puke:

We liked doing our own thing. We kept the doors locked and managed and lived on anyway. It was not a crime like it is these days. We had great fun too without a damn babysitter around! ;)

On edit:

Note from wikipedia:

>>Positive effects of being a latchkey child include independence and self-reliance. In some cases, being left home alone may be a better alternative to staying with baby-sitters or older sibling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latchkey_kid

I'll have to admit, I am one very independent and self-reliant person and always have been. So, there is a positive aspect to being a "latchkey kid". :D

:dem:

[curse of greyface]

12. It's funny you talk about crime. Statistically crime was much worse when I was a kid

But of course I had no realization of crime as a kid.

Honestly it's probably easier and safer to leave kids home alone today then it was in the sixties and seventies.


But of course nowadays we have Child Protective services that are a bigger boogieman for parents than any criminal element.

[eilen]

17. Hello! Gen X-er here

and we took care of ourselves, did our chores and put dinner in the oven! Parents were actually allowed to get phone calls from their kids when they came home from school.

And... we did not have cable tv nor Atari, no computer, no Internet, no mp3's, no DVR/DVD/VHS, nor cellphones. We had dial phones with cords, bicycles, afterschool specials and stereos that played albums and the radio (top 40), typewriters, tag, pets and the public library We had to take our young sisters and brothers EveryWhere and would catch hell if they got hurt. We actually had to share bedrooms with them too. Back then we walked to school -- or to the bus stop. Buses did not pick kids up at their door unless you lived out in the country or rode the little bus. Our parents worked during the day and in the evenings to make ends meet and we had to be careful not to drink the milk too fast--only at breakfast. Shopping was done once a week, period. We did things ourselves (remembering searching the couch for change so I could go buy bread at the corner store for PBJ's-- in 4th grade) and were expected to entertain ourselves. When we got too annoying or whiney our parents threw us outside and said Go Play.
Sometimes in the summer, our parents would drop us off at a public park with a pool on their way to work. That was a treat because we would pack lunches and get money for the ice cream truck.

Friggin coddled millenials. grumble grumble.

[curse of greyface]

19. Here Here.... though I did have an Intellivision... Here here. nt

[abelenkpe]

38. whoa

that's an eerily accurate description. That said I coddle my own babies. I keep my four and two year old up until 10 every night just so I can have time with them since I have to work. The other night when my son wanted to walk down the street without holding my hand I nearly had a heart attack. It's hard not to coddle.

[Odin2005]

34. I agree with those positive effects.

As I stated on another post it seems like I'm on of the few guys in my generation that keeps his place clean and things orderly, that that IMO was because I spent a lot of evenings home alone while my parents worked. To many of us college-age people now days still need Mommy to take care of them. :eyes:

[Odin2005]

33. I was born in 1986 and I was a latch-key kid

When I was 8 my sister graduated from high school and moved out from home. My parents both worked and that left me home alone on many evenings, which was just fine with me. :evilgrin: One big benefit it gave me, IMO, is that I keep my place reasonably clean, too many of us college-age guys now days live like pigs and don't know how to take care of themselves without calling Mom for help. :eyes:

[Maine-ah]

13. it's one of the reasons we decided not to do daycare.

so I work nights, my husband works days so we don't have to pay for daycare. I also didn't like the idea of my kid growing up in daycare. I'm not knocking those that make the decision to put their kids in daycare, it just isn't for us.

[Pharlo]

15. I know a LOT of people for whom working different shifts was - and is -

the only form of affordable child care they could afford. If they did need to leave the child with someone it's VERY seldom for more than an hour or two - basically, the time that the start of one shift may overlap with the finish of the other.

[Maine-ah]

26. that's how it works for us.

I'll leave my daughter with one of her grandparents or her aunt for an hour or two until my husband gets out of work. Luckily we have plenty of family in the area, and I work for a company that is very family oriented.

[davsand]

27. We opted for a similar arrangement for the first couple years.

Kevsand wanted as much time with his child as he could have, and it was worth it to us to have less stuff in order to have more time with her--no to mention keeping her out of a daycare setting. We both worked "part time" for that first couple years and it worked fine for us.

I worked as a bookkeeper in the early mornings and he would schedule his client appointments (he was a computer consultant for non-profits at that point) for the afternoons. We loved it and it gave him a lot more time with his kid than what a lot of men get to have.

Not everyone has the ability to do what we did, but it was the best choice for our family.



Laura

[Doctor_J]

28. These people will all be getting tax breaks soon

so things may pick up

[Odin2005]

32. The silver lining in this recession is that parents won't be able to afford to over-protect

...their kids. I was a 90s latch-key kid and I grew up just fine. I was shocked when my co-worker told me that his 11-year-old son went to day care. A 11yo kid going to day care? :WTF: I was home by myself while my parents worked when I was 8, when my sister graduated and moved from home.

[curse of greyface]

40. He may be avoiding CPS issues

You would be shocked what the overprotective nosy state considers abuse nowadays.

[Odin2005]

41. That's actually similar to what he told me.

He talked about some Fargo ordinance he was afraid of violating, and Fargo police are notorious jerks because they have quotas.

[goddess40]

37. We had the "same" article in the paper recently

Economic troubles nationwide are playing out in day-care centers one family at a time and there's evidence in the Wausau area that local families are not immune to the hardships.

Child enrollments at many local day-care centers are holding steady, and some families even are on waiting lists at those centers. A select few day cares, though, have seen their enrollments decline and one will close permanently Friday.


http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008811080534

Check out the first sentence.