4 ms·

With all due respect, why in the world does 28k sound like a reasonable number for care of a single child? That's more than many people make at a full time job

With all due respect, why in the world does 28k sound like a reasonable number for care of a single child? That's more than many people make at a full time job.

tayo42 8mo ago
Day care and pre schools charge like 2k/mo for full time care and 5 days a week.
- silisili 8mo ago
  An enterprising person, great with children, would see an opportunity to make 72k a year to watch three kids. And another might offer to do it for 60k, and so on. Regulations prevent that, and kill the free market. Now everyone pays a crapton to some facility where the owner jumped through all the hoops to get certified, while hiring minimum wage people to care for the kids. Not that some aren't great, but is it really a better system?
  - tayo42 8mo ago
    Idk if your selling it well. Plenty of other careers will pay more and give you health insurance and stability. Probably with alot less work too.
  - redbluered 8mo ago
    Reality shows that the outcome are centers with a television on 24/7, or where kids are given drugs to sleep. That's not the exception but the rule. That's why inspections and licensing came in. The longterm costs of that -- crime, mental health, etc. -- explain why subsidies make sense. Every rich country has universal public education for a good reason. Market forces, as you point out, will drive your enterprising person making 72k out-of-business very quickly, and the market becomes a cesspool.
redbluered 8mo ago
Cost of living for staff and lawful child to caregiver ratios. If you assume 1:4 or 1:5, that's around 100-125k per caregiver in tuition. With reasonable overhead numbers (space, management, compliance, licensing, taxes, etc.), that's a poverty-level income for preschool teachers. There is a strong argument for subsidies, at least in countries which have low birth rates and care about longterm social outcomes.
mbreese 8mo ago
I didn’t mean that it was a reasonable cost, only a reasonable estimate of the cost. Childcare in the US is way more expensive than it should be. The costs are also highly location dependent with the coasts being much more expensive than the Midwest etc…
senordevnyc 8mo ago
Isn't that the cost for two kids?
- silisili 8mo ago
  Yes, you're right. I'd read the quote out of context and for whatever reason read it as "for either of these ages", but the preceding sentence clarifies it as two individual kids. Still absurd to me, but perhaps less so.
  - Dylan16807 8mo ago
    And taking care of an infant is extra hard. The laws where I live mandate twice as many workers per infant compared to 3-4 year olds, and three times as many compared to school age kids.

With all due respect, why in the world does 28k sound like a reasonable number for care of a single child? That's more than many people make at a full time job.

tayo42 8mo ago

Day care and pre schools charge like 2k/mo for full time care and 5 days a week.

silisili 8mo ago
An enterprising person, great with children, would see an opportunity to make 72k a year to watch three kids. And another might offer to do it for 60k, and so on. Regulations prevent that, and kill the free market. Now everyone pays a crapton to some facility where the owner jumped through all the hoops to get certified, while hiring minimum wage people to care for the kids. Not that some aren't great, but is it really a better system?
- tayo42 8mo ago
  Idk if your selling it well. Plenty of other careers will pay more and give you health insurance and stability. Probably with alot less work too.
- redbluered 8mo ago
  Reality shows that the outcome are centers with a television on 24/7, or where kids are given drugs to sleep. That's not the exception but the rule. That's why inspections and licensing came in. The longterm costs of that -- crime, mental health, etc. -- explain why subsidies make sense. Every rich country has universal public education for a good reason. Market forces, as you point out, will drive your enterprising person making 72k out-of-business very quickly, and the market becomes a cesspool.

redbluered 8mo ago

Cost of living for staff and lawful child to caregiver ratios. If you assume 1:4 or 1:5, that's around 100-125k per caregiver in tuition. With reasonable overhead numbers (space, management, compliance, licensing, taxes, etc.), that's a poverty-level income for preschool teachers. There is a strong argument for subsidies, at least in countries which have low birth rates and care about longterm social outcomes.

mbreese 8mo ago

I didn’t mean that it was a reasonable cost, only a reasonable estimate of the cost. Childcare in the US is way more expensive than it should be. The costs are also highly location dependent with the coasts being much more expensive than the Midwest etc…

senordevnyc 8mo ago

Isn't that the cost for two kids?

silisili 8mo ago
Yes, you're right. I'd read the quote out of context and for whatever reason read it as "for either of these ages", but the preceding sentence clarifies it as two individual kids. Still absurd to me, but perhaps less so.
- Dylan16807 8mo ago
  And taking care of an infant is extra hard. The laws where I live mandate twice as many workers per infant compared to 3-4 year olds, and three times as many compared to school age kids.