Hello,

Thank you for the responses to my last couple of posts. I enjoyed reading your ideas and have been thinking about the questions you posed.

Since my last blog post, I have been looking over a ton of information on childcare searching for the effects that parental childcare has on kids. The information that I found seems very logical and not at all surprising. It all depends on the parent. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) “Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development” found that “parent and family characteristics were more strongly linked to child development than were child care features.” It seems that the quality of care is more important than who provides the care. If I sit my kids in front of the TV, all day, every day, instead of actually parenting, wouldn’t they be better off in a daycare. The level of parenting directly correlates to the level of success the child will have in the future. When you sending your kids to daycare how can you ensure they are getting quality care? 

During my research on the effects of childcare, I came across some interesting information on the cost of it. Cost is an important part of the equation and can be the determining factor weather or not your child goes to day care. The graph below from Qualistar Colorado, a Colorado childcare advocacy group shows costs of different types of care.

 

The graph shows the cost of daycare centers and paid in home daycare in both rural and urban areas of Colorado. This clearly shows that the cost of an actual daycare center is far higher than in home care and that as children get older the cost of care decreases.. The graph also shows that both options cost more in an urban area. These costs depend on such factors as where you live, type of childcare, child’s age, how many hours of care, for profit or not. After examining this graph, I wonder why urban daycare is more expensive than rural daycare. Do rural daycares provide better care and if so why? Does the cost of daycare correlate with the quality of daycare?

 

Child Costs Calculator

 

Find out how much you're likely to spend to raise your child. (provided by babycenter.com)
 

The article “ColoradoChild-care Costs High” published on the Dneverpost.com by Allison Sherry references the report “Kids Count in Colorado” published by the Colorado Children’s Campaign that says Colorado “is the third-highest for child-care costs for 4-year-olds and ranks eighth for infant day care, at $905 a month”

Using $905 a month as a reference point, I will need to make around $12.00 an hour just to send my two children to school full time. That means if I am making $24.00 an hour half of my pay will go to childcare and these rough calculations do not include taxes.

Does cost of care dictate quality of care? So can I find an affordable place to send my children to that will still provide quality care?  Are for profit centers any better or worse than not for profit centers? These are questions that that the articles have made me think about. I agree that the quality of care is important as the NICHD study points out, I am just worried that quality may relate to cost. One thing that I am starting to believe to be true about childcare is that it is a very individualized decision for each family and many variables go into that decision.

Until next time,

Jason