Are Child Care Costs Driving Parents Back Home?
Child care costs are increasingly unmanageable for American families.
According to the Washington Post, “The average annual cost of infant-center-based care is virtually the same as the average cost of tuition and fees at a four-year public college.”
And it’s not only infant care that is straining the pocketbooks of Americans – childcare in general is downright expensive.
“Over the past 30 years, average weekly child-care expenses for families with working mothers who paid for the service surged more than 70 percent — from $87 to $148, based on data from the Census Bureau.”
How are parents handling this strain?
“More than three-quarters of mothers and half of fathers in the United States say they’ve passed up work opportunities, switched jobs or quit to tend to their kids, according to a new Washington Post poll.”
One has to wonder: Is the solution to this growing problem more government funding for childcare or government mandates which demand employer flexibility for parents? Or, is it simply time to recognize that a two-parent working culture might not always be the most cost-effective option for American families any more?