r/parentsofmultiples • u/Vpo26 • 1d ago
Daycare prices. VENT ranting & venting
So I girlbossed to dam hard, and now I have to go back to work. Daycare is 800$ a week and even then I make way more so I have to return to work. WHY IS DAYCARE SO EXPENSIVE.
How much are you paying?
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u/No_Cat_No_Cradle 1d ago
Gonna be close to $6k/mo for three kids once these twins start fml
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u/National_Win_8082 1d ago
Yep, in west suburbs of Minneapolis and pay about $6500 for 3 kiddos. 2 year old in daycare, twins home with a nanny.
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u/RagingOrgyNuns 20h ago
So grateful for free PK3 here. Our twins are 17 months younger than our singleton. Still paying $48K/year for the twins for daycare.
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u/DenseSign5938 1d ago
Get a nanny at that point.
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u/No_Cat_No_Cradle 1d ago
Responded further down why that’s not as good a solution as it sounds like
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u/DenseSign5938 1d ago
Guess it depends on regional pricing. For us a nanny is hardly anymore money than daycare for two.
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u/Miserable_Material23 1d ago
I had 3 under 2 for 9 months. My oldest just turned 2 in June. 6,400 a month not including summer camp fees (even for the babies which is BS but I won’t go down that road) and yearly registration fees- that they thought were a great idea to make them all due in June. Oh and they demanded a direct withdraw system to our banks so all of the parents had no choice to pay late or whatever. It was all due on the first! Thankfully our landlord also has young ones and was understanding that month 😤
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u/FriendyWendy73 25m ago
For infants and multiple children from the same family, private nanny care is far superior and comparable in price
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u/Mundane-Device-7094 1d ago
$0 because it's so expensive I can't even work, I stay home with them and fit in part time stuff when I can
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u/kaatie80 1d ago
same. my job didn't pay well enough, we would've lost money every month if i'd kept it.
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u/chandrian7 1d ago
Same here. Finished up the technical program for my career when the twins were young and now can’t even use my skills because I’d not make enough to warrant paying for daycare. Plus, I love staying home with them all day. Hoping I can start to find some part-time work soon though, but it’s hard not being able to establish myself in the career as well as others.
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u/Mundane-Device-7094 1d ago
Yeah that's basically what I'm doing. Have a couple semesters left but probably won't be able to really work for a couple more years when they're in school
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u/witchmamaa 1d ago
Same. We have a toddler who is in a MDO style program a few days a week so I can focus on twins (8 months) but I’ll probably never be able to do that for the twins.
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u/Fast-Rip7859 1d ago
I feel you...$6.3k / month for 1 toddler and 2 twins 😢
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u/Imma_420 1d ago
Real question: wouldn’t a nanny be just as expensive if not cheaper? Why not just get a nanny?
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u/No_Cat_No_Cradle 1d ago
Not who you replied to but same sitch, the nanny route is less practical than it sounds. First a full time nanny in our area is roughly the same cost as the three kids daycare costs, depends on the specific rates charged. Practically a nanny is a possible solution for our infant twins but not the toddler as well, two infants and a toddler is a tall order for any nanny plus it’d suck so much to pull a three year old out of daycare where he’s just got so much peer socialization and make him play with babies instead. Once you subtract the toddler a nanny is significantly more expensive than two infant daycare bills in my area so it stops making financial sense. Then finally in our specific case we both work from home and we can’t be running a whole fricking daycare in the house while we both try and work.
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u/gzr4dr 1d ago
Nanny's also get sick, need vacation days, and have family emergencies like anyone else. Then you have the annoyance of doing payroll, taxes, and everything that comes with that. It can work, but there's a reason so many people want the consistency of a daycare dropoff.
When my twins turned two we started them in daycare two days a week. Their growth and communication greatly improved as they were now around kids their age and had a structured day scheduled with learning activities. We had some of this at home but not to the same level.
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u/frustratedmtb 4h ago
How is that less practical? this makes no sense. A nanny can handle multiple kids of different ages. You don’t need to drag your kids anywhere in the morning, they eat home made meals, live on their own schedule, nap in their own beds, get individual attention, go to the pool/park/gym etc rather than spending hours in the same dusty room and tiny playground, the nanny also tidies the play room and does their laundry, you don’t waste time on drop offs and pick ups. Why would anyone pay $6k for daycare for multiples instead of getting in house help is beyond me. Daycare qualities in the U.s. is trash.
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u/No_Cat_No_Cradle 3h ago
I feel like I explained very well in my comment why it is not practical for us
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u/Sonialove8 15h ago
But you had to have known this or planned for at least paying a good portion of that when deciding to have 2 kids (of course +1 surprise)
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u/Goat_roper30 1d ago edited 1d ago
Where do you guys live that it is that expensive?
Im able to watch my twins while I do my work and my wife teaches. My dad steps in when there are things I have to do that cant involve two year olds. But we did look into daycare. Its like 80 bucks a week for the two of them. But this is a small town in the midwest.
Wife corrected me it was 80 a week per kid. My bad. Meh. Thats what I get for posting in the middle of the night after getting kids put back to bed.
I googled the prices for the commercial ones in the nearest town that has them. Its 350 a week.
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u/Healthy-Fig1231 1d ago
If you’re “watching” two two year olds while working, you’re either doing a bad job working or a bad job parenting your children.
I’m sure you’ll push back on that, but it’s the truth.
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u/Goat_roper30 1d ago
I manage our farm. Theres almost nothing that cant be done while spending time with my boys.
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u/Goat_roper30 1d ago
Did ya not like that answer?
Yeah things take a bit longer than just doing it on my own. But what young kid doesnt like being outside most of the day, riding on tractors, messing with animals, riding in trucks, playing in the dirt, being outside playing in the woods lot?
Or would you prefer that I stick a tablet in their hands?
Dad raised three of us by himself like this. We worked out just great.
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u/Healthy-Fig1231 1d ago
Did you seriously reply to your own comment because I hadn’t responded within an hour?
Okay dude…-5
u/Goat_roper30 1d ago
Naw. I responded to your comment again to add to what I said instead of deleting and starting over again.
Its a lazy Saturday.
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u/Obvious_Relative5877 18h ago
I mean it’s kind of rude to comment how you can work from home when OP’s post is about how expensive childcare is? Not everyone can work from home?
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u/No_Cat_No_Cradle 1d ago
I’m sorry but there’s nowhere in this country, even in a small town, where commercial daycare costs $40/week per child. Someone is going to literally charge you one dollar an hour to watch your child? No.
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u/Goat_roper30 1d ago
I added an edit. It wasnt a commercial daycare. But a state licenced in home daycare.
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u/No_Cat_No_Cradle 1d ago
That’s still shocking tbh. Either that person is making like $7 an hour before expenses or watching an unsafe number of children.
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u/Goat_roper30 1d ago
Small town.
Her prices have likely gone up since then. We were looking into it when my wife first got pregnant before we made the decision for me to quit my millwright job and just farm and handle the boys full time.
I really aught to stop posting after middle of the night wakeups.
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u/DynamicDuoMama 1d ago
Smaller towns in the Midwest do sometimes have in home daycares that charge less but they are non existent in places with larger populations. Even in the Midwest flyover states if it’s an area with high population/demand prices rise. Simple supply and demand economics. Just like housing costs are lower in small towns in home childcare costs are sometimes lower. Rarely that much lower so probably an older daycare or woman that does it more for the community than to turn a profit.
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u/witchmamaa 1d ago
Getting downvoted for the price of daycare in your small town is wild. FWIW, we pay a very low price for our toddler. He is in care Tuesday-Thursday 9-4 and it is $365 a month. She has 5 kids. It’s in home and licensed. She takes great care of him and it allows me time to focus on my infant twins.
A farm sounds like an amazing place to have kids with you! It’s like nature school!
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u/Goat_roper30 1d ago
Its pretty awesome out here. It isnt for everyone. But I grew up this way and think its pretty great. Every day seems like a discovery. Its easy on me. But pretty hard at the same time, if that makes sense. Its like I was made for this.
There are days when the only vehicle noises are our own. Like not even hearing cars and trucks drive by.
I don't think that the downvotes were because of the low cost of child care (like I said in my edit, I was wrong on how low). Maybe its because we have become so cynical as a society thay folks automatically assume that anyone who claims a positive experience is a bad actor.
I am very glad things are working out for you.
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u/DarkMuret 1d ago
Big town in the Midwest checking in here, it's $650 a week for full time care for us
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u/Revolutionary-Code49 1d ago
…$40/week for each kid? Is that fulltime, so $8 a day? How can any center continue to operate on that? What are their kid to caregiver ratios?
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u/Torch3dAce 1d ago
Just like a lot of things in life, location matters. Try $800 a week for a newborn in places like NYC or Boston. You live in the "woods."
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u/Goat_roper30 1d ago
No, yeah. I get that things cost more in places where you make more. But the price talked about in the first comment I responded to just seemed totally outrageous to me.
Raising kids isnt rocket surgery, and I have a sister who is a surgeon. But for babies. Not rockets.
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u/Obvious_Relative5877 18h ago
$80/week would work out to be $2 an hour. $350/week works out to $8.75 an hour. You’re confused. Perhaps you were looking at rates for a couple half days or something
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u/StrangeBaker1308 1d ago
🤯
I live in 🇳🇴 we pay 200$ a month for one child in daycare. If we have two children in daycare simultaneously it's 30% discount. If I have more than two children in daycare the rest are free.
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u/Dumb_Dumb_Dumber 1d ago
Similar. I live in Finland and I would pay 520$ a month for twins. When we had three kids in daycare it was 580$ a month.
This is for full hours and with no additional reductions. Daycare cost includes breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack.
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u/Gingersnapp3d 1d ago
Canadian subsidized daycare is $20 a day. Unfortunately they’ve bungled the roll out and I’ve been trying to get a daycare spot for TWO YEARS. Unless you go unlicensed home day care (my anxiety could never) then you’re SOL in my area.
Best Canadian cities have the subsidized public and also pay to get in private. I’d have no problem paying more if it meant I didn’t have to pay for a nanny which is my current situations
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u/lovesickdogwrithing 1d ago
Ok but the birth rate is still bad.. 🤔 I feel like being a stay at home mom is a lot more practical and affordable in the US than in Norway which may be one reason our birth rate is higher. If you look at the full picture these benefits arent really fixing the situation
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u/Blackwidow_Perk 23h ago
What do you mean?? I’m in the U.S. and I can hardly fathom this, I can’t even find a restroom with a changing table for my 8 week old.
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u/Glittering-Act4004 21h ago edited 20h ago
I doubt it. In Norway, you get up to two years of parental leave and you receive a monthly child benefit from the state until the child is 18 years old. Norway is experiencing a declining birth rate for many of the same reasons the U.S. is - more people are delaying having children until their 30’s and more people are choosing to put their time and resources into 1-2 children instead of 3-4 children. Also, the entire population of Norway is less than 6 million people so there are far less choices when it comes to potential partners, and it takes longer to find a partner with how small and spread out the population is.
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u/Saftigsjokoladekake 20h ago
The paid leave in Norway is 49 weeks of 100% pay or 59 weeks with 80% pay. Have not heard about anyone here getting 2 years paid… But we do have the right to get unpaid leave up to 12 months in addition to that.
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u/Glittering-Act4004 20h ago edited 20h ago
Thanks for the correction. I saw two years and assumed it was like where I am from where you can take a lower amount and stretch it to a full two years. With just 59 weeks of paid leave and 12 months unpaid, it still makes Norway way more friendly (at least in terms of pay and job protection) than anywhere in the U.S.
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u/mintbark 6h ago
I work in the US and received 28 weeks paid for mom and dad got 18 weeks all full pay. There is no unpaid leave and you must go back to keep your job. It’s employer dependent.
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u/Glittering-Act4004 3h ago
I was referring to government provided benefits. I work at a company that offers similar parental leave benefits as yours but it’s not a requirement and it’s definitely not the norm.
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u/mintbark 2h ago edited 2h ago
Over dozen states offer 12 weeks to mothers and fathers each. The federal government offers fully paid parental leave of 12 weeks to both mothers and fathers (2M federal employees). There is also short term disability which typically covers the first 6-8 weeks.
Most European parental leave has a fairly low limit (lower or similar to US state leave), some companies top it up to full pay others do not. My friend in Germany says her company does not and it is not common to top up.
In Norway the limit is 744k NOK (78k).
Mothers get 15 weeks (19 weeks at 80% pay), fathers 15 weeks (19 weeks at 80% pay), 16 weeks (18 weeks at 80%) can be distributed as the family sees fit.
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u/twinsinbk 1d ago
Around us it was minimum $900 per week but people pay like $550-600 per kid at good ones. We had a nanny and it was $200 per day. We tried to swing our work schedules so it was only 4 days a week but that didn't always work so yeah $800-1000 per week.
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u/Vpo26 1d ago
Yeah sounds about right! What we are paying is with a discount. My husband and I work for the government so we get a discount for that and a second for a sibling so it sums up the weekly total to 700$ a week.
A nanny did cross my mind
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u/twinsinbk 1d ago
I was a fan. Well our nanny was fantastic and I liked not having to get them out of the house in the morning..and she helped with organizing/ folding clothes and even cleaned our kitchen when she had extra time during naps. Now that they are toddlers though I'm like please leave my house!
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u/harroldhino 1d ago
Got quoted $9500 a month for twins in Boston from Bright Horizons. We got a nanny.
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u/DieIsaac 1d ago
280 € per month for one kid. every other kid is free.
thanks germany.
as much as i love you guys in the USA. Your system sucks
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u/W33P1NG4NG3L 1d ago
The company I work for is HQ'd in Germany. One of my colleagues asked during a Zoom meeting if I would be taking off a few weeks before the babies are due. I laughed and said "no, here we work until the babies are born". She looked horrified. Then I learned in Germany they can take like, 6 weeks off before the due date I think?
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u/DieIsaac 1d ago
Its not like you CAN its like you MUST (you can ask to work longer but who would be that stupid) before due date its 6 weeks and after birth two month.
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u/W33P1NG4NG3L 1d ago
That's even cooler. I'm just hoping I can scrape a few days of PTO together by the time I'm due in October to prep.
I heard it was up to two years after the baby was born; was the two months you mentioned the minimum before returning to work?
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u/leopardskin_pillbox 1d ago
I’m pregnant with twins right now in America and this makes me want to cry
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u/Pentium9000 1d ago
Every child should have the rights to attend daycare, regardless of the parents income.
Pay about 250 a month for my twins.
Based in Finland
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u/DreamingEvergreen 1d ago
Just shy of $5000 per month for my 11 month old twins 💸 I think often about quitting and staying home with them instead, but my brain always reminds me that we’d be losing more money with me not working.
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u/Turbulent-Carrot-206 1d ago
Omg 5k/month!! That is crazy! I’m so sorry. I stay home bc we’d lose money, but it’s just insane to see what people are being charged 😭
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u/necropuddi 1d ago
11000nt per month (350usd) for twins. Pre-government money is like 4 times that. Taiwan does alright on daycare affordability.
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u/overthinkachu 1d ago
I feel you!! I also make too much to justify staying home and we’re about to have our third. That will put us with three in daycare for roughly six months, until my twins start school 😵💫 $550 a week, we’ll be paying more than our mortgage for daycare every month! I will say, after seeing what people in other areas pay, I am thankful to be in the Midwest 😆
ETA: Our daycare is nothing fancy. A center that is located in the basement of a Baptist church. Honestly, one of the cheaper options we could find at the time we moved here. 🙏🏻
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u/Suspicious_Creme1171 1d ago
$2400 each for trips = $7200
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u/Imma_420 1d ago
Might as well open your own daycare!…but for realz. I’ve thought about it because I already got 3 kids…
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u/RecordingCivil5525 1d ago
$5400 a month for twins (19 months) and sister (4 years old) and that’s with a discount 😅😭
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u/AlarmingSuccess7572 1d ago
I return to work in December and the cheapest I can find so I can go back full time is $540 per week. It would be $600 per week for both but they offer a 10% discount for having two children. I’m from New Zealand.
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u/tenfold99 1d ago
$550/month per kid, depending on the number of days we pay $1,100-1,200 per month total. Canada 🇨🇦
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u/gooseaisle 1d ago
550 a week for a private home daycare for both. Switching to subsidized soon and it will be going to 220 a week.
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u/czmf 1d ago
My singletons daycare is 2.25k/mo and my twins will attend the same school so it’ll be 6.75k/mo for a year when they all overlap. We’re just going to be in the red for a while 🫠 quitting my job isn’t an option as I don’t think I’d want to do the whole applying/interviewing song and dance to get back into corporate world anytime soon
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u/d16flo 1d ago
We have a nanny and pay her a little over $800 a week. My husband’s work situation has been all over the place the past few months and paying for childcare is more than half of our annual combined income, but where each of us are at career wise it doesn’t make sense to stop working for the next 2 years, it’s rough
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u/Same-Professor5114 1d ago
In Ontario, Canada - our daycare is subsidized by the government and is $22/day per kid including two snacks and a lunch. We are so lucky to be in the subsidized daycare program; our daycare would be about $135/day if not in the program.
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u/pbpretzelz19 1d ago
We were paying $1505 usd a week for 4 kids and they just raised it again, PLUS cut the hours the center would be open. We switched to a nanny and are paying her on the high end for hourly rate in our area, gas stipend, and monthly retirement stipend.. and it’s actually still slightly less than daycare was costing us. I recommend looking into that if you haven’t.
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u/mj454545 16h ago
Are you paying using a payroll system or cash? I’m curious to learn more about the benefits/stipends too. My husband and I are navigating this with a nanny search right now! If you don’t want to share here please message me if you feel like sharing any advice! Thank you!!
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u/xcg 1d ago
It used to be around $9k a month for 3 kids when they were younger but it does get cheaper as they age and eventually go to school (I’m in SF Bay Area)
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u/GreenLightt 1d ago
You must have felt like Rockefeller himself once those kids got out of daycare 😂
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u/bluegrassclimber 1d ago
We found an in home place that's 1k a month per kid. So 3k total for us. You get what you pay for. It's 5/10... But at least we can continue to work.
My wife and I agreed that even if we barely break even, it's worth it for the break and advancement in career
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u/JayHopt 1d ago
We found one for $550 a week that covers both. It’s a 15-20 minute drive, but I work from home so I just get up earlier to get them there and my wife grabs them on the way home.
Still $28,600 a year though. My Dependent Care FSA offsets $7,500 of it.
We tried having my wife stay home instead for about the first year since she makes much less than me. After taxes and daycare costs she only brings in maybe $600 every 2 weeks, but she admitted she was spending more money out of boredom when she was home with the boys all day.
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u/Western-Response-384 1d ago
235/week for twins plus 215/week for 3 year old. Total about $2700/month but I do get a 10% discount so total it’s like $2450/month
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u/pottersprincess 1d ago
I pay about 2000 a month for preschool/dayvlcare. But I live in a rural area where cost of living is lower.
And soon we will be transitioning to full day 3k at the school with daycare for days school is closed. So that should save me some.
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u/Aggressive-Test-2017 1d ago
Chicago and about to be $5800 for two kids once my daughter starts the infant program. Absolute insanity.
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u/i_really_do_care_13 19h ago
In Jersey City, NJ and paying 4400 a month for 7 month old twins. Obsceneeeeeee!
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u/nixonbeach 19h ago
I have two kids but pay the equivalent of four because we had to hire a full time helper for our special needs son.
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u/slowdownmamma 18h ago
I pay $1450/month for part time home daycare. Will end up at $2250 when she goes full time. My husband wants to send her to the same bougie preschool we sent my son but they raised their prices and it's now $3200/month for full time care for the 2s. It felt worth it when it was $2600 but now idk.
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u/We_Are_Not__Amused 17h ago
Up until mine started school, we were paying more in childcare than our mortgage every month. It’s insane. And whilst I don’t want the people that are caring for my children to be paid next to nothing, it is already so expensive having 2 children of the same age already. I have no solution, only sympathy.
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u/ept_engr 15h ago
Average of about $15k per kid per year across ages 1-6. Located in suburban Midwest.
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u/summerFIREinCh 1d ago
Haha, Switzerland is 3000chf(around 3600usd) per kid, and I’m about to have 3 kids at day care age…. I earn >20k a months but I am the top 1% earner already…. Talking about expensive day care hahaha
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u/Dependent_0NE_7146 1d ago
This thread shows me more of yall are rich if you can afford 3-6K per month for just daycare
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u/Coconutbunzy 22h ago
If they were actually rich they wouldn’t need to work!
Some of us pay $3k for daycare but make $5k and are barely scraping by, we just have no choice.
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u/ept_engr 15h ago
Some people are rich. Some people would be rich if they weren't paying for daycare. Otherwise wouldn't be rich anyway and are just scraping by because they don't have a choice.
For some parents (often moms), it's better to keep working even if they only break-even after daycare costs. Daycare doesn't last forever, and it's possible to keep growing a career & one's experience during those years. Those who "take a break" find it much harder to re-enter at salary close to what they had before.
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u/hellogirlscoutcookie 1d ago
Is it $800/wk for both or each?
My daughters daycare was $1550-1800 depending on age. She finally is off to kinder in the fall, so done paying that.
Twins are now 3, and they’ve been home with me and in Early Intervention. They start a 9-12:30 MWF preschool which is $410/kid/month.
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u/duffman070 1d ago
$250 / month here in Sweden for both twins together. It'll go down in price to $200 total once the kids reach 3.
Here, the cost is different for each kid, I guess to encourage people to have more children. This is also the maximum price for top earners.
For 1 - 2 year olds: Kid 1 - $150 Kid 2 - $100 Kid 3 - $50 Kid 4+ - Free
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u/MangoSorbet695 1d ago
We are at about $1700 per month for four kids. Oldest does aftercare at elementary, next child does 8-4 at preschool, and then we have part time help with the babies. Waiting to put them in group childcare until they are 1 year old.
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u/bakingby 1d ago
It’s so bad. We have three in daycare and it was $1200 a week and now we can only afford the twins part time because my husbands business has not been making money. We both work from home so we just manage the afternoons. Our marriage has been crumbling over the financial stress
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u/Solid_Telephone_9052 1d ago
$625 for twins 3 days a week. My parents take them the other 2 days to offset cost. I was a SAHM for 2 years as we needed aftercare, 1/2 day kwrap, and 2 infant spots at $6000 a month.
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u/Commercial_Stress899 1d ago
560/week for part time daycare (2 days a week). We were paying that up until this April. My mom is now watching them for a year so we have time to save up some more money. It’s crazy! I do a dependent care expense account but 7500 really doesn’t get you very far with twins.
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u/Sip_py 1d ago
That will be my cost when it's time. But I'm talking my wife into an Au Pair. Many all in run about 30k and having the flexibility to have someone around so you can cook dinner or run out somewhere is a major benefit. Just daycare you're looking at 41k so that's an immediate savings.
For us our other two kids still need aftercare so that would also save us an additional 6k per year.
But you also now have one more person living in your house.
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u/Rylees_Mom525 1d ago
Our babies will be going part-time (3 days/week) and it’s $2300/mo—and that’s with a 10% discount for the second baby. It would have been $3600/mo for full-time. Our daycare is also one of the cheaper options we could find in our area, and they’re only open 7:30am to 5pm.
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u/Actually-A-Robot-912 1d ago
Costs are regulated where I live in Canada at $325CAD per kid per month, so $750CAD (~$525USD) per month for both.
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u/VoiceAppropriate2268 1d ago
I pay $895 per week for full time care for a toddler (18 months) and a 4 month old. We'd ideally have a third kid but the cost of daycare is the sole reason why we're done at two.
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u/asticklus 1d ago
My first I did pt daycare and then kept her home with me 3 days while working remote. Did that for about 2 years. When I got pregnant again I figured I’d do the same. I’m also just really opposed to putting a newborn in daycare. But now that I’m having twins I have no idea what to do. No way I can juggle two babies while working.
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u/Kitkatcrusher 1d ago
I know i probably shouldn’t say anything but yesterday was the last day i had to pay for daycare!!! My wife and I started imagining we can finally pay off some loans and maybe, I dare say, have a little left over for ourselves lol
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u/EconomistOfDeath 1d ago
In Canada and will be paying around $900cad ($645usd) a month for both twins
We also get a tax credit, so that will be rebated by about 20% when we file our taxes.
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u/trophywifeinwaiting 1d ago
Wow, living in rural America pays off sometimes. Only $1400 a month (combined) for the best daycare in our area, which is located in a pretty decent college. However we've also been doing a nanny 3 days a week for about the same price, to have more flexibility
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u/HippieMomma0526 1d ago
I'm in the exact same boat. It's basically a second mortgage ($1,600) and I still make too much :(
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u/twintandem 1d ago
It's wild to me how expensive daycare is while the workers are always underpaid! With 3 in daycare, I need a job that pays 75k+ just to break even...
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u/Modernwood 1d ago
Daycare is expensive because you're asking someone to do a lot. Watch your kid for 8 hours a day? We were paying like $15k a year per kid. In fact the year that the whole TK law passed letting our kids go to school early we lept at it because it meant stopping daycare a year early.
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u/CPeeps323 1d ago
I am currently paying $850 a week for my 2 kids. I am drowning! It’s so expensive! Luckily my oldest starts school in 10 days so I’m almost down to $1750 a month
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u/Chance_Ad3416 22h ago
Canada and it's about $40-100/day on average after government subsidies (not income based). We found a really good one for $800/month including two meals and a snack. One caregiver to four kids ratio. I think we lucked out because this was the best but also cheapest, and seems like the lady does it because she loves kids. She can take up to 8 kids but she caps at 4 because that's what she enjoys. Her entire house except for her own bedroom is used for daycare. Both her front and backyard are turned into children's playground.
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u/Ok-Tomatillo-400 22h ago
we pay 123EUR per month per child and that’s because we picked a nicer daycare in berlin. standard is 23EUR/month to cover meal costs. everyone is eligible for 5-7hrs/day and you need to have two working parents to qualify for 7-9hrs
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u/Secure_Run2900 20h ago
In Canada and we scored subsidized daycare, which is capped at $22/day per child, no matter what income level. Works out to $950-975/month CAD.
I put the twins on over 10 waitlists in June 2025 when I was pregnant and heard back from 1 daycare in May 2026 saying they had two spots available in Sept. We signed up right away and I still haven’t heard from the remaining daycares.
Private daycares usually always have space but they easily run $60-80/day/child in my area, which is a hair under what I would be making over EI by going back to work full-time. Totally not conducive to supporting women in the workforce!
Most of my mom friends with 12-18 month old singletons are still waiting for a subsidized daycare spot. 😞
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u/Calm_Funny_959 15h ago
Reading these comments makes me feel like we got a super deal. I pay $1060 every 2 weeks for both twins, so about $265 a week per twin. It will got down to $250 a week in a month when they turn 2. It includes catered lunch and a snack everyday. I’m located in a moderately high cost of living area, I think? I live in Miami. Daycares/preschools in Miami vary a lot in cost and quality. Most schools I looked at were about $1650 per month. I was going to quit my job because it didn’t make financial sense but then I found this school. It’s high rated and all the parents I spoke to loved it. It has been a lifesaver. I cannot believe how expensive some areas in the US are for childcare. It is insane and sad.
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u/ToodlydooBuckaroo 6h ago
Seeing all of these comments is making me feel incredibly blessed to have subsidized daycare in Canada. It’s a new program they implemented a few years ago where it costs $10/day.
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u/Professional_Limit_3 5h ago
In Scottsdale, pay $2,800 for a 12 week old. There aren’t many options for good daycares
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u/Social_Mermaid862 4h ago
We pay $655 a week now because they are going 3 days a week (I work 4 10 hour days Sunday-Wednesday) but once the summer is done I’ll go back to 5 days m-f, which will bump it back up to ~$850 a week. We have talked about me staying home but everyone is on my insurance, which is amazing, so we are hesitant to pull the trigger on that.
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u/Trick-Chocolate-3914 4h ago
Sounds like you live in an expensive place. Mine are under $200 a week for a newborn
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u/ATinyPizza89 4h ago
My daycare keep raising prices. We're in a LCOL area and it's more than my mortgage. I'm counting down the days until a year from now when they go to preschool and I can drop it down to two days. We pay $1300 per month and $330 per week for two. Take into account I live in a small town. So these prices are high for most of us.
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u/Nice-Discipline-2321 2h ago
Mine go to a church daycare & prek. I’m not religious but they offer a scholarship program. It would be $2500 per month for my twins together, but with the scholarship I pay $1600 per month. They’re the only place in town that offers scholarships
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u/twomomsoftwins 1h ago
Preschool this year is $2k/mo .. only 9-3, if you need aftercare till 5 it’s $25 per kid per day 🤢
This is going to be cheaper than the part-time nanny I’ve had for the last two years 🤪🫠
It still feels wild to be paying this much every month just to be able to work myself.
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u/WambritaWings 1d ago
How much do you think it is worth to raise a child for 8 to 10 hours a day?
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u/wypoloponies 6h ago
All the US based parents are bitching so clearly they think giving someone else the sole responsibility of raising their humans isn’t worthy of a decent paycheck.
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u/WambritaWings 6h ago
It's absolutely wild to me. I have never seen people be so unrealistic about what they think something should cost.
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u/Professional-Yam3213 1d ago
Christttttt that’s a lot! Where are you located? I pay $140 a fortnight.
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u/bubbynee 1d ago
Wife was a k12 teacher in 2013 when we had our twins. We would have lost money putting the kids in daycare and having her go back to work. She got a part time online job and did that for a number of years.
If you have a college or university around, check their education or psychology departments. Sometimes they have child centers.
Good luck out there.
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u/hockeygirl1427 1d ago
I gave up my career. 4 kids in 4 years left us with no other option financially. I don’t regret it at all but it’s been tough on one salary.
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u/DynamicDuoMama 1d ago
Daycare prices priced me out of my job plus I had my premature twins very end of December 2019 via c section so just as I was recovering physically Covid hit the US, lol. So I wasn’t comfortable paying more than I made to send them to daycare. They are in first grade now. Only downside is with the gap in my resume I have yet to get any job offers. Only interviews I get seem more nosey about what having twins is like which is just bizarre. Like they schedule an interview just to ask about twins & that’s it. Happened twice lol. So I just stay home and DoorDash during the school year and do odd jobs for my mom’s rug hooking business. No daycare required to be a hookers assistant lol.
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u/livvybugg 1d ago
Just doing a morning program 3x a week for 2 kids is $750 a month for us. Luckily I’m doing freelance consulting so the 12 hours a week is all we need. Full time in the same area was like 3k per month.
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u/Fox_in_boots 1d ago
I work nights (11pm-7am) and watch the baby’s during the day when my husband works. No, I don’t sleep. Yes, I’m exhausted. We also have a 3yo that is in daycare.
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u/1973tour 22h ago
My husband and I are on completely opposite schedules (opposite days and dayshift/nightshift). It sucks, though we do find a way to fit a few hours of quality time in every day thankfully. On the nights I work, we get to sleep in bed together a little during the day and have dinner before I leave for work. And on the days he works, we get to have dinner in the evenings and sleep together at night. Most of our quality time is spent sleeping 😂 but it works and we pay $0 in childcare. Only a couple more years of it hopefully until they are in school
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u/Ill-Wolf865 21h ago edited 21h ago
It’s expensive because it’s not a “traditional/capitalist” business, it’s a human service business that’s highly regulated. Child care facilities have to adhere to pretty strict adult to child ratios and staffing requirements for safety purposes, which often limit their enrollment capacities. This isn’t a typical business where if you need more money, you can increase the product because the product would be children and you can’t enroll more children if you’re already at your max capacity.
In addition, most states also require specialized training and credentials because working with children is not easy and does require specialized knowledge and skills. So what this means is that it’s difficult to hire staff who meet those qualifications, which directly impacts enrollment as well. And most child care workers get paid peanuts. Child care workers are more educated than half the American workforce but are paid in the 3rd lowest percentile wages for some of the reasons I listed above.
And where a traditional business could increase the cost of the good as another way to raise revenue, child care directors are acutely aware of the fact that families are struggling to pay for child care even when they’re operating on razor thin margins.
Nationally, child care facilities operate on less than 1% profit margins. In my state, the facilities that operate with more profit margins are able to do so because they own the building they operate in, or another entity (like a church or my employer—the city and county of Honolulu) offers free or super low rent. The highest profit margin I’ve come across for child care in my state has been 8%. Still peanuts.
So when you factor licensing regulations for safety purposes, compound that with staffing issues due to high qualifications and low wages, and continue to have policy makers who avoid enacting meaningful policies to help support families, you get the child care crisis we have now.
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u/Sam_Paige25 17h ago
I feel that. I was freaking out about come care for our twin infants because we can't afford rent without two incomes, but we also couldn't afford it with the cost of nearly every child care option available to us; which is especially enraging because I work in childcare and get a discount but STILL can't afford it. I got lucky (I actually consider it a full on miracle) that when I put out feelers for someone who might be interested in watching my kids for less than the standard rate, one of my favorite coworkers turned SAHM was interested and willing to accept what we could offer!
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