Sunday, January 25, 2009

Daycare Dilemma

Having a daycare dilemma is not something I ever really wanted to have. I've never really spent much time and energy thinking about daycare because I have sort of just blocked out the possibility and necessity of it. I have now come to a crossroads.

My job is requiring me, as a salary employee, to take the place of an hourly employee a few days a week to help offset the inevitable economic downturn this year is sure to produce. Last year Kingston went with me to work about 3 mornings a week. That was until he was mobile and required so much attention. Now it is just not possible to bring him into the dining room of the restaurant while I work. So this is the part where daycare comes in. I am going to need it 2-3 days a week. Great.

So help me work this out. In order to pay for daycare (on average $30/day for part-time) for 3 days a week, max, I would have to pay out about $90.00/week. I cannot currently afford to pay $90.00/week with the salary that I am making now. I will have to make at least and additional $90.00/week to not go backwards. And since I refuse to work just to pay for daycare, I will have to make MORE than that in 3 days. Basically, this means I will have to wait tables at least 2 of the 3 days to make enough money to pay for daycare and bring home a little extra.

OK. So I guess that is decided. Now comes the part where I have to decide where to take Kingston. Most daycare centers require you to commit to 5 days of care, on average of $150.00. Not going to happen. I would prefer to put Kingston in an in-home daycare where he would be with only a few other kids and where they would allow me to do only 3 days. We have an appointment tomorrow morning to check out one place (who wants me to commit to switching to full-time in the summer), and I left a message for another lady who I hope to hear from tonight. This really isn't easy.

Don't get me wrong, I am definitely not against daycare in any way. I guess I sort of hoped to be able to make a living and still be a stay at home mom. I'm not sure how I thought that would work out, but I a girl can dream, can't she? I also know that I'm not the only one in this boat. My friend Mandy is struggling with a work/money/baby situation, my friend Anna was considering keeping Kingston until she decided to take a full-time job with benefits and now has to put her little boy in daycare, and my friend Eden gets crap for being a stay at home mom sometimes. You really just can't win when it comes to childcare.

If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations, I would love to hear them. Now who wants to ask me again if we are ready to have baby number 2?

3 comments:

Eden said...

I know of a few daycares in Wanchese that do part-time...but I'm not sure how helpful that would be since it's in the opposite direction.

Mom's daycare doesn't do part-time but she might be able to give you 'inside info' on some of the other daycares that do. ;)

Melissa said...

Good luck.
I can only imagine how stressful that has got to be.

Lee said...

I had no idea that daycare was either full-time or nothing. Have you tried Cameron's in Nags Head on the beach road? I know of someone who takes her daughter there part time, I think. I'm sorry this is so difficult.