WHY CHILD CARE IS "SO EXPENSIVE"

I’ve worked closely with children and families in my home-based preschool for 20 years, now. It started as a child care program for all ages that ran from 8am until 11pm to serve as many families in need as possible. I eventually moved on to an 11 hour workday, instead. I charged $1 - $3 per hour for years, purely to be affordable. And then I found myself overworked and raising my own children in poverty. How did I spend 15 years pouring every bit of me (and more) into caring for the children of my community just to find myself unable to afford to buy a house, lacking any emergency savings, unable to afford healthcare, savings for retirement, etc.?

Well, it’s in part due to the very common sentiment from parents that I’ve encountered over and over when they don’t know what I do for a living: “How are we supposed to afford that??”

I’m sure that parents don’t mean to insult the work that we teachers/care providers do for their families by raising their children while they’re at work. I’m sure the “how can child care be so expensive” mentality is usually based in not understanding the many hidden costs of running a home-based child care program.

So, I want to help break this down, in the hopes that it will shed a lot of light on why child care costs what it does. Parents deserve to know that their hard-earned money is well-spent.

I now charge $1025 per month for high quality, Mon-Fri, full-time, preschool-style child care. (Which is less than what the state pays programs at my level of licensing.)
That breaks down to about $5 per hour.
But because I’m self-employed, I pay 15% more into taxes than people with “normal” jobs. I have to save 30% of my income (far more when I have an employee, but we’ll get to that) up to $40k; any income above $40k and I have to save almost 40% of that income for taxes. So, let’s say I have to pay an average of 35% of my income to taxes: that $5 you and your spouse pay me becomes only $3.25ish per hour, toward my livelihood…

BUT here are some of the other hidden costs of being a child care provider that all come out of that $3.25 per hour:

• Self-employed child care providers DO NOT receive ANY of the benefits of going to work for someone else: health insurance, a retirement fund, sick time off, personal time off, worker’s compensation if we get hurt, bereavement leave, maternity leave, life insurance… these ALL come out of that $3 per hour that we make.
• If I ever want ANY sick time off, or personal time off (or even just the immense sense of moral support that comes from not having to do this big job alone), without having to inconvenience ALL of the families by having to close down my program, I have to have an employee. And most long-term employees want or need a full-time job. Additionally, because I’m at the highest level of licensing for home-based child care in Oregon -Certified Family- I have to train someone for 60 hours (supervised the entire time) before they work alone in my program. Meaning, I can’t just hire a substitute and have them cover for me. Nor would I. I’m incredibly careful with entrusting my program, the children, and my home to a stranger.
• Employing staff has the hidden costs of paying taxes on their pay with every paycheck, buying Worker’s Compensation insurance, covering them under business insurance, paying an accountant who I wouldn’t otherwise need to do payroll, withhold the correct amount of taxes on my employee for the IRS, and send me an employer W3 for tax season and my staff their W2s for the same.
• But I also go above and beyond all of the child care centers I’ve encountered: I pay a much more “livable wage” of $18 an hour to start, paid holidays off and paid vacation time, I provide FREE child care for their child (a HUGE loss to me financially, but worth it to me to support my employee in this incredibly significant way), I offer a health allowance that helps pay for their health insurance or medical bills, meals on the job, and flexibility in scheduling – including having a three-day weekend every week, if desired.
• I serve mostly organic food, and very wholesome meals (I’ve studied nutrition and health for 24 years). The USDA Food Program covers maybe half of my expenses for quality food. I also purchase monthly art supplies, cleaning supplies for our daily cleaning of the entire facility, and new activities so my program grows with the interests and development of your children. The toilet paper and paper towels we use are plastic-free, even in their packaging, and made from bamboo to be as eco-friendly as possible. Did you know glitter is a micro-plastic? Yep. I buy the expensive biodegradable kind instead. Again, spendy but worth it!
• Being a Certified Family program, we are unlike exempt providers, registered providers, and even big centers in that my staff and I all have to complete 15 hours of annual classes and trainings in Early Childhood Education. In addition to the costs for those classes, I have to pay to be re-certified by the state every year. Before that is approved, I have to pay the Environmental Health Agency to do an annual walk-through inspection to verify I’m following their rules and regulations.

 
There are so many hidden costs that even the most well-intentioned families just aren’t aware of, if they’ve never spent time in this profession.

I need to add that while it’s not a financial cost to me, necessarily, there’s another level of devotion to this work that’s required by most, if not all, child care providers: my home is taken over completely by my work. My entire home is set up as a preschool for the 6 – 8 children that I care for all day, every day. I never leave work: if I’m at home, I’m still at work. On my weekends, I’m thinking about the coming week’s curriculum, I’m buying groceries for the children in my program, I’m setting up new play activities or equipment, I’m washing their nap-time bedding (we clean it weekly), I’m reading books to continue furthering my knowledge and inspiration for teaching… and the list goes on and on.

Good child care providers and teachers give every inch of ourselves, every fiber of our beings to providing your child with the best start, the best foundation upon which they build the rest of their lives, their best sense of self, their best early socio-emotional development with others. We give the very best we have to offer purely so you have the sense of safety and freedom needed leave your child in the hands of someone else, to go to work and make ends meet for your beloved family.

Yes, it’s worth $5 an hour.

If you’re a single parent or a very low-income married couple (Oregon’s minimum wage is currently $12.75 per hour), the state is here to help with that. The ERDC program through the Department of Human Services expanded their income limits to help more families, at the onset of the pandemic. And many bigger centers can afford to offer scholarships. If you truly can’t afford child care, there is assistance available.

I promise you we are in this field because we LOVE, VALUE, RESPECT, and want the very best for your children! We child care providers are not walking around wealthy at the expense of hard-working parents.

If you ever genuinely feel this is the case, PLEASE talk to your child care provider. Ask them what their work is like – if they trust you enough to open up about it, that is; many providers keep the frustrations of this work to themselves to avoid losing families who wouldn’t understand. Spend a day helping out and witnessing the work for yourself. There’s a huge turnover rate (and burnout rate) in this field because it’s an especially over-worked, underpaid, under-thanked job where we give, give, give our hearts ALL. DAY. LONG.

And if that’s not enough… I suggest asking yourself if you really want your child spending the majority of their time with someone who cares for them, supports them, protects them, and role models for them, but who can’t afford a decent lifestyle for themselves because of the work that they do, who has to choose between health care and putting food on their table, who is exhausted because they work themselves to the bone at poverty levels to be “affordable.”

Instead, please imagine your children cared for by someone who is thriving, who can afford to be their healthiest and happiest, who has energy and joy and well-being to share, whose program doesn’t fall apart with every life challenge that rolls in because they are well-supported instead of hanging on by a thread. Imagine your child’s full-time child care provider and teacher feeling valued and cherished, like they deserve. Imagine the benefit of that to your baby who is looking up to this person all day, every day.

Your child deserves to grow up in a healthy, happy, stable environment.

Yes. We are worth it.

If you'd like to read my heartfelt and experienced thoughts and guidance on parenting and teaching young children, please find my book on raising children here - WHOLESOME PARENTING: Paving a Brighter and Kinder Future with Our Children.

LindsaySwanberg.com - Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved.