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Post by shescrafty on Feb 16, 2015 2:58:42 GMT
I don't think that the expectation that someone would pay $10 an hour for regular weekly child are is realistic. I live outside of Annapolis MD in an area that is not cheap. For an infant at a center I would pay about $275-$300 a week and that is with food included. That would be for more than 30 hours a week most ikely.
When my son was in full-time care his center was open from 7-6 so 11 hours a day. They had a full-time cook but we provided formula and diapers.We paid I think $250 a week. My son usually went from 8-3:30 but other families had their child in care for many more hours a week.
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Peamac
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Post by Peamac on Feb 16, 2015 3:01:20 GMT
The daycare DD works at charges $140-155 a week, depending on age. They're open from 7:00ish am to 6pm, Mon-Fri. The cost of living is a lot less there, and DD only makes around $8/hour, even though she has an Associate's in early childcare. It's a large daycare/preschool with two different locations in town.
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Post by anxiousmom on Feb 16, 2015 3:17:16 GMT
Is that true? Most people you know barely make $10/hour? Are you in a really rural area? The only people I know who make $10/hour are high school kids working retail/fast food. Cost of living in my area is really high though. Seriously? Do you only know college graduates with jobs they can support a family on? Where do you live? I don't live in a particularly expensive area, nor a rural area by any stretch of the imagination...and the last job I had, which required a college degree, I was paid $14/hour after 3 years. The starting pay was $12.75. I think that where you are pretty much drives average pay. Having a degree doesn't always equate to significantly higher paying position. I had kids in child care, but I can't remember what we paid. What I remember the most was trying to find a place that I liked enough to consider leaving my kid there. Honestly, what I found was a whole lot of questionable places that gave the heebie jeebies.
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Post by msbee on Feb 16, 2015 3:24:24 GMT
Daycare cost is the reason my husband and I worked opposite shifts. For the first 1.5 years of dd2's life he walked in from work and I walked out to go to work. I would have been working to just pay for daycare. For the last 6 or 9 months I worked she went to a daycare for 2-2.5 hours a day so I could move to an earlier shift.
We worked opposite shifts much of dd1's early years as well. Not the "dreamed of" scenario but we did what we had to in order to make things work. The places I could afford I wasn't willing to leave my children at so I worked evenings and nights.
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Post by AussieMeg on Feb 16, 2015 3:27:02 GMT
Seriously? Do you only know college graduates with jobs they can support a family on? Where do you live? I don't live in a particularly expensive area, nor a rural area by any stretch of the imagination...and the last job I had, which required a college degree, I was paid $14/hour after 3 years. The starting pay was $12.75. I have to say I am shocked at some of the hourly rates being mentioned here for certain areas. $14 per hour for a job that requires a college degree?!?! Last year my 16yo daughter was working part time after school at a hairdressing salon (sweeping floors, making coffee, washing hair) and she was earning $14 per hour. At the time the $AUD was almost on parity with the $USD, or maybe a bit under. I am assuming that the cost of living in these areas is MUCH lower than other places? At her current job at a patisserie she is earning $12 per hour.
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Post by iamkristinl16 on Feb 16, 2015 3:35:59 GMT
It was 15 years ago, but when I graduated from college I got a job in my field and my salary was $17,000 per year. I now have an advanced degree and make much more than that (although not a lot, relative to other degrees) but I think that people graduating with that degree now would probably make around $12 per hour. Around here it is not easy to find a job that pays more than $14 per hour if you don't have a college degree. I think many people here (on the boards) are too far removed from what an average wage really looks like and how that equates to quality of life.
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Post by epeanymous on Feb 16, 2015 3:37:11 GMT
Ugh, I have a nanny, which sounds quite fancy until you realize that my alternative was to pay for day care for three kids at once. Guess which is cheaper? (Yet another Seattlite here, living the high-cost-of-living dream).
Like Ashley, I feel terrible for how high dare care costs can be (and let us face it, if you are comparing day care to swim lessons or housekeeping, it is not, well, comparable -- no one is going to send her child to swim lessons for forty hours a week). I know plenty of women and men who stay home with their kids who would like to work full or part-time but literally can't afford to. That is not on the daycare providers, obviously, who have to make a living and should earn a reasonable salary (raising kids is always "the most important job" until we actually start talking wages, right?), and for sure if $100 isn't market in an area, no one is entitled somehow to get someone to watch a child for that, but I get the frustration.
I will say what irks me is always when I see people asking for free or almost-free childcare because their kids are supposedly "no trouble."
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pridemom
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Post by pridemom on Feb 16, 2015 4:13:58 GMT
I was a home daycare provider for a number of years until 2009. I charged $75/wk which was average for my area. You have to realize that the median income in my area is a low $29,000/yr.
I never showed a profit by the time you deducted my expenses.
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Deleted
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Jun 26, 2024 16:19:20 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2015 5:05:33 GMT
That's typical in my area. Teenagers have babies and they're looking for CHEAP childcare. They don't even check the background of the childcare services or anything, and they usually ask for $5/hr. Yup, it happens often enough. I only deal with educated women who appreciate experienced childcare providers, CPR certified, educated, non-smokers, etc.......... You get what you pay for, but unfortunately in this vicinity (or a 15 mile radius), they don't make too much! I'm amazed at how many new moms are willing to just drop their infants off at a stranger's house/apartment without even checking them out!!!!!!!!!!!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2015 5:24:37 GMT
That's typical in my area. Teenagers have babies and they're looking for CHEAP childcare. They don't even check the background of the childcare services or anything, and they usually ask for $5/hr. Yup, it happens often enough. I only deal with educated women who appreciate experienced childcare providers, CPR certified, educated, non-smokers, etc.......... You get what you pay for, but unfortunately in this vicinity (or a 15 mile radius), they don't make too much! I'm amazed at how many new moms are willing to just drop their infants off at a stranger's house/apartment without even checking them out!!!!!!!!!!! ![:laugh:](//storage.proboards.com/5645536/images/Ivm7lm0DayrhoRpwvCeH.jpg)
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Deleted
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Jun 26, 2024 16:19:20 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2015 5:28:39 GMT
coilstrand: It's true. Anyone here could find childcare for $10/hr max, but that's if you don't care what you're getting for the $$. Sad...
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mallie
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Post by mallie on Feb 16, 2015 12:41:49 GMT
Around here, the costs are dependent on where you live and as usual, we all tend to lead insular lives and are unaware of what costs are for others.. My assistant pays $25/day for 7am--5pm and she doesn't have to pay if her kid doesn't go. She lives in a rural area and travels 30-45 minutes into work. She was utterly shocked when a coworker who lives 10 minutes in the other direction n a city of 250K, commented that she pays $200/week and she has to pay if the kid goes or not. She kept saying, "No way would I pay if my kid wasn't going that day!" and refused to believe that good quality care here or in that city costs that much and requires guaranteed weekly payment.
They both make the same wages and the reason the "city" coworker can afford to work is that her husband makes a good wage. Note that she and her dh both have the same college degree, but he was able to find a job that paid well and she was not. This job is her fifth job since college and she found that once you don't get a job in your field after college, you're screwed. This job pays poorly. it is true. Heck, I am not compensated properly for my experience and education either, but around here, ti was the best I could do. She ended up staying at this job because we do offer a stellar pension plan, so she looks on it as her job is saving for the future.
From what I see, there are three pay scales around here -- the really good, minimum wage, and about $5 above minimum wage. There is no real "middle class" wage scale here any more. The factories are gone, government jobs have been cut and cut (and their take home pay has been cut and cut), and the vast majority of jobs are service industry and low level office with no chance of advancement. We advertised a job last year -- basically a 3/4 time receptionist with some clerical work with no benefits at $10/hour-- and were astonished to get 175 applications, mostly from vastly overqualified women. We also advertised a full time admin asst job suitable for a first job out of community college at $13/hour and got 52 applicants, most of them people age 40+ with bachelor's and master's degrees, desperate for full time employment. Good luck trying to pay for childcare on that wage.
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Post by M~ on Feb 16, 2015 13:36:35 GMT
I we pay the HK $10.00 per hour whenever we want her to stay over her designated work hours.
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Post by momof3pits on Feb 16, 2015 13:47:16 GMT
I don't think there is a one size fits all answer. As a former nanny who used to be a member of care.com, I have pretty much seen it all when it comes to pay ranges for different job duties when people place ads looking for caregivers. I always chuckled and scrolled right by when there were families looking for 40+ hours of care, plus all housework and errands to be done for $5/hour. I mean, come on... In the same vein, I saw it getting worse and more frequent that families would want a cleaning person, but didn't want to pay a separate domestic worker so would try to push off those sorts of tasks on their childcare provider.
I do understand that there are some single moms/families that just don't have the budget for childcare, and while I do empathize, I do not know what the solution is.. Childcare is one of those professions, rightly so, that does cost more and pays well. Like a PP said, many times, nannies and daycare providers end up spending more time with the children than their parents. Even if some moms have guilt about that and don't want to admit it, in some instances childcare workers end up doing the child rearing.
In my last position, I was with the kids from 7am to 6/6:30pm. Monday through Thursday and some weeks on Fridays. On Friday nights and the weekends, they are a babysitter come over and deal with the kids. Realistically, I was spending most of the kids' waking moments with them. I potty trained, taught manners, structured their days, instituted their rules and chore charts, got them eating better than chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese, etc. All while their "mother" laid in bed as a "SAHM." And in this position, I made $22/hour. Admittedly, this was an extremely weird situation that I have some majorly strong feelings about, but I won't detail this thread that much!
In my area, nannies cost anywhere from 12-25/hour depending on number of kids, hours per week, tasks, etc. Daycares cost anywhere from 30-60/day depending on number of kids, number of days used, whether in home or school like setting, etc. I think the big difference is that daycares have multiple children from different families so realistically they are probably making more than nannies in the end.
At some point, if you can't afford to pay a childcare provider but can't afford to lose your pay to stay at home and raise your children yourself, then you can't afford to be having children. I think a lot of young people are seriously flippant and irresponsible when it comes to getting "accidentally" pregnant, and then expect everyone else to pay the price.
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Post by Crack-a-lackin on Feb 16, 2015 15:29:28 GMT
Is that true? Most people you know barely make $10/hour? Are you in a really rural area? The only people I know who make $10/hour are high school kids working retail/fast food. Cost of living in my area is really high though. Seriously? Do you only know college graduates with jobs they can support a family on? Where do you live? Most of my friends are college graduates but you don't need a college degree here for a job that pays over $10/hr. A school bus driver makes $15+, a grocery checker (journeyman) makes $19, a receptionist I know makes $14. But, there's no way you can support a family on those wages here, in Seattle, at least not easily. Average rent/mortgage (in a fairly safe area) for a 2+ bedroom would be $1400+/month. You might be able to find cheaper, but it would not have a washer/dryer in the unit or would be in a sketchy area (just to give you an idea of the type of apt, possibly small house, you would get). Most people's rent/mortgage is far more than that. So really, wages are all relative.
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Post by fkawitchypea on Feb 16, 2015 15:41:25 GMT
I cannot believe someone would have the balls to say that! Talk about manipulating religion to your own self-interests!
I paid between $100-$150 per week for in home day care for my ds who is now 11. It was a SAHM that needed some extra cash so she took in 2 kids, all she could legally have or handle. I provided diapers, formula, food, etc. It worked out great for about 2 years until she decided to go back to work to earn more cash. I am forever grateful that she did it. He got great care from her.
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Post by anneinwa on Feb 16, 2015 15:58:31 GMT
I made $10.50/hr working child care in a center and that was with a degree. Raises were pathetic... .11 or .23. Yes, that was 8 years ago, but looking at job postings now, it may have only gone up a dollar or two. The only thing that made it worth my while, if my daughter attended free anytime I was working. Yes, that adds something to the hourly wage, but if iwa s childless, I would have made the same starting. The insanity of it hit, when I decided I would like a night out with my husband. I asked the high schooler who helped me in the afternoons if she would watch my daughter for a few hours. She charged $10/hr. I had to say no, becuase there was no way I was giving over 100% of my hourly take home to a babysitter.
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Post by utmr on Feb 16, 2015 16:11:32 GMT
We paid $1,200/mo when my now 11 yo was in daycare. That was for a licensed facility - not the cheapest but not the most expensive by a long shot. We provided all diapers. Breastnilk or formula, and all meals.
A few years ago there was an in home daycare provider who had bargain rates. She had 7 children in her care (legal limit was 6) when she put a pot of oil on the stove and went to Target. Four died, three badly injured. The lucky ones died of smoke inhalation. The others burned alive.
You get what you pay for with child care. If you don't care enough to arrange for proper care for your children you shouldn't have any.
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Post by Skellinton on Feb 16, 2015 16:20:58 GMT
The thing with childcare is that it not only varies by area due to the cost of living, but it varies by ratio of children to childcare provider and the child's age. The ratio here for children under age 2 is 4:1, meaning 4 infants one CPR/First Aid qualified person who has completed a certain number of child care classes every year. Children 2- Pre-K is 10:1 K-11 is 15:1
So, if you think that the daycare provider has 4 infants and they are making 10.00 an hour, they are getting paid $40.00 an hour. Our minimum wage is 9.25, which is actually pretty high. Washington to our north is the highest with 9.47. To beat minimum wage a childcare provider would only have to charge 2.50 an hour for infants under age 2.
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luckyexwife
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Post by luckyexwife on Feb 16, 2015 16:25:08 GMT
We paid $1,200/mo when my now 11 yo was in daycare. That was for a licensed facility - not the cheapest but not the most expensive by a long shot. We provided all diapers. Breastnilk or formula, and all meals. A few years ago there was an in home daycare provider who had bargain rates. She had 7 children in her care (legal limit was 6) when she put a pot of oil on the stove and went to Target. Four died, three badly injured. The lucky ones died of smoke inhalation. The others burned alive. You get what you pay for with child care. If you don't care enough to arrange for proper care for your children you shouldn't have any. That's terrible! Did she do it on purpose? Why would you put a pot of oil on the stove for any reason??
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Post by utmr on Feb 16, 2015 16:33:12 GMT
We paid $1,200/mo when my now 11 yo was in daycare. That was for a licensed facility - not the cheapest but not the most expensive by a long shot. We provided all diapers. Breastnilk or formula, and all meals. A few years ago there was an in home daycare provider who had bargain rates. She had 7 children in her care (legal limit was 6) when she put a pot of oil on the stove and went to Target. Four died, three badly injured. The lucky ones died of smoke inhalation. The others burned alive. You get what you pay for with child care. If you don't care enough to arrange for proper care for your children you shouldn't have any. That's terrible! Did she do it on purpose? Why would you put a pot of oil on the stove for any reason?? Best that I could ever figure out, because she was a dumba$$. After she fled the country and was extradited back, she was convicted and is now in prison. But she was cheap daycare.
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Post by utmr on Feb 16, 2015 16:43:19 GMT
Assuming an in home care giver is properly licensed, bonded, insured etc. caring for the max of 4 infants who each pay $100/week and provide all milk, diapers and other supplies. Assuming a 55 hour week (7-6). Also assuming $2,000/yr in liability insurance and $200/yr in licensing and training, $25/week in supplies and $240/mo in medical insurance. Also self emp tax at 15% and income tax at 15%.
The caregivers take home after taxes would be about $3.61/hr. To get the hourly rate to $10/hr, the weekly rate would need to be closer to $250/week. Now the $300 for a proper center sounds a lot more reasonable.
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Post by compwalla on Feb 16, 2015 16:55:01 GMT
Infant daycare would be less necessary and more affordable if we had reasonable maternity leave policies in this country like they do in the rest of the civilized world.
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Post by finally~a~mama on Feb 16, 2015 17:11:12 GMT
I've seen similar ads on my local FB swap & shop pages. The "best" was somebody that wanted to pay what amounted to $1.25 an hour AND she wanted them to come to her house. What really amazes me is that I see these posts wanting daycare for some ridiculously low amount and their are people immediately responding that they will do it.
FWIW, I paid $200 a week for a licensed in-home daycare for DD1. I'm in a city in the midwest. My friend in a rural area about 2 hours away was paying $60 per week at the time.
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Post by JustCallMeMommy on Feb 16, 2015 17:15:13 GMT
I think what you are looking for makes a huge difference in how much you have to pay. If I want a person to keep only my child in their home, they are working for just what I pay them. If I go with a child care center where multiple people are watching multiple children, the cost of those salaries and overhead for the center are spread among more people. There are advantages to both (personal attention vs. amenities like cameras so that mom can see baby via the Internet, for instance).
When Alison was 18 months to 4 years, I paid $425 a month for a good daycare center here, so "just" 8 years ago, I was paying a little over $100 per week. In this area, that wasn't bargain-basement pricing. Even at the time, I was hearing of people in other areas paying twice or three times that amount. If the mom in this scenario recently moved from my area to yours, their expectations may need to be reset.
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Just T
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Post by Just T on Feb 16, 2015 17:23:18 GMT
Several people on this thread have made similar comments, I am going to respectfully disagree that having a low-cost daycare provider=crappy "you-get-what-you-paid-for" care and paying higher prices=stellar care.
An old friend of mine was a sahm who wanted to earn a bit of money, so she took in some kids to watch. She was a fantastic, fun mom, and always had a waiting list. I don't know what she charged as it was a number of years ago, but I remember when she started doing it, it was so she could help out moms who didn't have high-paying jobs, and she knew she was charging much less than what she could have. Everyone loved her, she now gets invited to weddings of the kids she used to watch.
I also know two people whose children died at a licensed daycare, who they did pay a lot of money for. One gal, her 3 month old baby died after being put down for a nap in the middle of a king size bed, surround by pillows so he wouldn't roll off. It was determined that she hadn't even checked on him for 2 hours. Another person I met years ago...her daycare provider, who was licensed, lived in a big, expensive house, charged high prices...fell asleep and while she was asleep, a one year old baby fell down the basement stairs.
I'm sure there are horror stories from both sides, and I don't think it's fair to say that someone who needs less expensive child care doesn't care about their kid, or shouldn't expect to have good care. I look at the hourly wage this way: If an in-home provider watches 3 or 4 kids, and makes say $50 a day for each kid...that comes out to $25 an hour. My niece used to work in a day care center. She has an associates degree in early childhood development, and made barely above minimum wage and cared for WAY more than 3-4 kids every day. Why is it okay for a daycare center worker to make so little money?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2015 17:31:18 GMT
Yes; I think there's enough judgement and stress with being a mom, being a working mom, trying to balance work and life and money and children, that we don't need to add in yet another layer of judging someone as being stupid or not caring for their children enough, if they need affordable childcare.
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rickmer
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Post by rickmer on Feb 16, 2015 18:19:29 GMT
i paid $40 per day 11 years ago for a licensed in-home daycare. the woman's rate was actually $35/day but because i only worked 4 days/wk, i paid a higher daily rate (she had to hold that spot for dd and couldn't get another child for just friday). the fridays i did work, she just charged me the $20 difference as if i was paying $35/day for the whole week. at that point our minimum wage for about $8.60/hr. it is now over $10.
it drove my mom NUTS that i had to pay her her full rate if dd was sick, if we were on holiday and when she was in half day kindergarten. admittedly, i was pretty cheap so would wait for her to book her two weeks holiday in the summer and we would just take that time so i didn't have to pay her. she had anywhere from 3-4 kids at any given time so made around $700/week and was able to use expenses as deductions for income tax purposes.
she would always point out "well bea's babysitter gets $100/day" and try to make me feel bad. i became friends with bea's mom and found out yes, she paid her babysitter $100/day because both her and her dh worked in the film industry. the babysitter came to her house at 6am and was often there til 10-11pm or later. they sent her home in a cab (which they paid for). my sitter worked out of her home, wouldn't answer the door 5 mins before our 7:30 drop off time and refused to take any children that could not be picked up by 5pm. we had a good arrangement but after #3 showed up, we decided it made more sense for me to stay home for a few years. dd is 14 now and i am pretty sure my name is still on the waitlist for the daycare in the school. we never got a call.
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Post by myshelly on Feb 16, 2015 18:28:08 GMT
i paid $40 per day 11 years ago for a licensed in-home daycare. the woman's rate was actually $35/day but because i only worked 4 days/wk, i paid a higher daily rate (she had to hold that spot for dd and couldn't get another child for just friday). the fridays i did work, she just charged me the $20 difference as if i was paying $35/day for the whole week. at that point our minimum wage for about $8.60/hr. it is now over $10. it drove my mom NUTS that i had to pay her her full rate if dd was sick, if we were on holiday and when she was in half day kindergarten. admittedly, i was pretty cheap so would wait for her to book her two weeks holiday in the summer and we would just take that time so i didn't have to pay her. she had anywhere from 3-4 kids at any given time so made around $700/week and was able to use expenses as deductions for income tax purposes. she would always point out "well bea's babysitter gets $100/day" and try to make me feel bad. i became friends with bea's mom and found out yes, she paid her babysitter $100/day because both her and her dh worked in the film industry. the babysitter came to her house at 6am and was often there til 10-11pm or later. they sent her home in a cab (which they paid for). my sitter worked out of her home, wouldn't answer the door 5 mins before our 7:30 drop off time and refused to take any children that could not be picked up by 5pm. we had a good arrangement but after #3 showed up, we decided it made more sense for me to stay home for a few years. dd is 14 now and i am pretty sure my name is still on the waitlist for the daycare in the school. we never got a call. See, but this is what people don't understand. As utmr pointed out up thread, no she didn't make $700/week. She had to pay for all kinds of expenses like insurance and her licensing and licensing requirements.
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Post by PEArfect on Feb 16, 2015 18:33:28 GMT
So, basically the childcare facility/home would be raising her child. $100 wouldn't even cover meals.
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