# How much do you pay for childcare?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/305437>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 25, 2005, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/305437 "2005-05-25T14:53:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/305437/21 "2005-05-27T17:18:46Z")

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I would say the pregnancy thing would be a deal breaker for me. 2 weeks is unrealistic sounding to me. What if she needs a c-section?

Anyway, I am in Rhode Island. My son is in half-day kindergarten and I pay $180 week for after school care. He arrives there at 11 and can stay as late as 6. I don’t have to pay that much; there are much cheaper options available in my town. I like this center though. He has many activities open to him: sports, cooking, art, woodworking, theater, dance. There are parties with DJ’s about once a month. There’s a heated pool which they swim in everyday in the summer. There is homework club when he’s older so the time I spend with him won’t be spent fighting about homework. And it will be about 3/4 the price next year because he’ll be there fewer hours.

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**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/305437/22 "2005-05-27T17:29:01Z")

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[QUOTE=Caricci]  
I would say the pregnancy thing would be a deal breaker for me. 2 weeks is unrealistic sounding to me. What if she needs a c-section?

[QUOTE]

My thoughts, exactly. I wasn’t supposed to life anything heavier than the newborn for 2 weeks after an uncomplicated birth; I’m sure it’s far longer than that for a C-section. I feel rotten for ruling her out because she’s pregnant, but if she won’t be able to meet the childcare needs that I have, so be it. I can’t take 2+ weeks off work three months after starting a new job.

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**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-do-you-pay-for-childcare/305437/23 "2005-05-28T02:03:59Z")

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I’m not a parent, but I used to visit five home-daycare providers and a couple of daycare centers as part of my position with NH Reads. $70-90/child was the going rate of the providers who said what they charged, which was significantly cheaper than the typical daycare center.

If I had to send a child to daycare, I’d probably opt to send him/her to a person’s home as long as I found someone with decent references, because after seeing both centers and home daycare providers in action, I’d feel that the child was getting more attention in a small group, nevermind their rates are more reasonable. YMMV. On the other hand I’m also probably biased because I had two wonderful home daycare providers as a child myself, and can remember the time I spent at a daycare center as being unpleasant.

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