by Tracy Lynn Smith

Created on: January 03, 2010   Last Updated: May 21, 2011

Childcare costs are too high. The average person makes minimum wage or slightly above. Rounding up minimum wage, currently they make about eight dollars an hour. Meaning a working parent will only gross three hundred and twenty dollars a week at eight dollars an hour. Childcare costs run at least a hundred dollars a week. This is a third of what a working parent will make for just one child. This makes four hundred dollars a month payment very hard to afford, especially if the household has only one parent.

If you think only about the needs a single parent runs into to pay monthly, there is not enough money to go around. Let's take a look at a mock month (this is really cheap for some areas).

Rent is $400
Phone is $20
Utilities $150
Groceries and Gas $400

Grand Total $970 per month just for the basic needs.

This mock month just used up nine hundred and seventy dollars. Leaving the single parent only three hundred and forty dollars left out of their pay checks. Not even enough to cover daycare costs if they cost a hundred dollar a week. We didn’t even take money out for the taxes that will also have to come out of their paycheck. This means the single parent has to get help to pay for childcare or get a family member or friend to watch their child.

The high cost of childcare is the reason why parents leave their kids home alone as soon as they feel they can trust the kids. Some states have laws stating what age the state deems appropriate to leave children home alone; other states leave it up to the parents. Some kids are mature and can handle being home alone, but it would be safer to have someone home with them. The parents plainly can’t afford the childcare and have no other choice but to leave the children home alone.

Considering a childcare provider can safely watch at least four children per person, they are making more than minimum wage. Not only do parents have to worry about the high costs, but also the children’s safety. Parents have to weigh the prices against what they know about the childcare provider.

More children could be safely watched by adults if childcare was more affordable. Any loving parent would rather have a loving childcare provider for their children instead of them being home alone. Sometimes a childcare provider is just not affordable.

Especially if a family has more then one child, it is almost impossible for both parents to work with the childcare costs. My mother often said that women should be paid to stay home with their kids. This is not practicable, but it does make sense. Children would be safe with their mother and not left home alone or with strangers. If men got paid more money, women could take care of the children. As sexist as that sounds, I would gladly take care of my own kids than have a stranger watch them.

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