# How much do you pay for childcare? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 17, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635 "2003-02-17T15:34:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![manwithaplan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@manwithaplan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manwithaplan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635/21 "2003-02-18T14:59:06Z")
Doh - the going rate is €150-€200 per _week_. Just to nitpick the OP slightly, €115 is about $125. ---
**Author:** ![miamouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@miamouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miamouse)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635/22 "2003-02-18T15:02:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anahita \* > \*\*Just to clarify, I believe the creche gets some money from the government to help subsidize insurance, etc. I guess it’s not as expensive as I thought! > > Today was her first day and she did much better than I could’ve hoped. She even held the teacher’s hand and walked off with her. Yay! \*\* [slight hijack] And how was your first day? Did you cry? I know I did. [/slight hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Anahita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Anahita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anahita)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635/23 "2003-02-18T16:31:15Z")
**miamouse** , nope! Not a tear out of me, but she only stayed for half the day and I was there for some of it. I wonder what it’ll be like when I stay away the whole day!!! I can’t imagine what I’ll be like when she goes to proper school! Though, ideally, I’d be working in the same school where she attends, so I won’t get to miss her too much. **manwithaplan** , I stand corrected. It’s $123.13. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635/24 "2003-02-18T20:41:07Z")
$171 per week for a toddler. At a Kindercare facility. ---
**Author:** ![Pablito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@Pablito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pablito)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635/25 "2003-02-18T21:47:47Z")
$385 per month for my 3 year old at a licensed day care center. We have to send lunch, but snacks are provided. Sounds like I’ve got a good deal. (But then salaries are lower here; it all pretty much evens out I think when you factor in everything.) ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635/26 "2003-02-18T22:18:33Z")
Like flodnak, my oldest (3) is in a Montessori preschool. 5 days a week, from 8:45 - 2:45, they provide snack, I provide lunch. $635 per month. My youngest has a sitter who comes in- $10 per hour, comes out to about $761 every two weeks for her after taxes. Montessori is worth it, though. Only fully certified Montessori-trained teachers are teaching the kids, no student aides or playyard monitors filling in. I’m sure I pay a lot more than would be reasonable in other parts of the US. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635/27 "2003-02-19T01:41:27Z")
Like **MrPeabody** my wife quit her job to stay home full time with my son, even though that wasn’t our original plan. She was only working part time at the time, but I would guess with her skills if she looked for a full time job she would be making U$ 40,000, easy. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Mr\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635/28 "2003-02-19T02:05:07Z")
Just to give you the other side… I used to sit and made $130/week (for a 45 hr week) canuck going into a family’s home. I enjoyed it but I couldn’t live on it. (I make more working less than half the hrs now). **EJsGirl** -10/hr?? Wow. I wish the couple who I’d worked for (who had an income of $60-70 thousand) would have loosened the purse strings. ---
**Author:** ![corvidae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@corvidae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corvidae)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635/29 "2003-02-19T02:48:26Z")
When my daughter was in the infant room, we paid $255/week (Canadian, that is) for care from 7am-6pm, meals and snacks included, and diapers from home. Now that she’s in a toddler room (at a different daycare), we pay $775/month for 7:30am-6pm, same deal with the food and diapers. ---
**Author:** ![Toddly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@Toddly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toddly)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635/30 "2003-02-19T03:01:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MrPeabody \* > \*\*My wife quit her job to stay home with our kids, so I guess our childcare bill is about $90,000 a year. \*\* I bet it is worth every penny too MrPeabody ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635/31 "2003-02-19T05:43:19Z")
I just wanted to say that the title of this thread and the one under it got blended when I was skimreading, and it came in as “How much do you pay for children?”. Yikes. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635/32 "2003-02-19T17:28:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr Jim \* > \*\*EJsGirl- 10/hr?? Wow. I wish the couple who I’d worked for (who had an income of $60-70 thousand) would have loosened the purse strings. \*\* Hey, this is my child we’re talking about. I found someone who loves my kids and takes great care of them, and I won’t lose her. Of course, SoCal dollars are so different from other places (everything is friggin’ expensive here). I doubt most people have to pay that much to keep good help. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/155635.md?page=1)