This article appears in Jan 1-7, 2009.
ball of confusion
If I had a dog, I could put my dog in daycare NO Problem. But I have a BABY. Well. Waiting list for you. And That’s IF you can find a place that takes kids younger than 18 months. Wait a second, just how long is maternity leave anyway? 52 weeks.
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I was just about to write a bitch about this very topic.A little research before you have a kid would have been useful… Did you consider this before you had a kid? Did you make sure you had the proper supports in place to care for this child? I suppose you want the government to pay for it?The annoying thing is that it will cost the government tens of thousands of dollars for you to learn your lesson. “Who looks after the baby the other five to seven months?” — Whoever you planned on doing it when you thought about having a kid 2 years ago!!!!
Boy, this problem hasn’t changed much over the last two decades. When I had my young ones, I, too, had to go through a waiting list. I went through a couple of advertised baby sitters which was a nightmare. One fucking bitch actually went to the beach, paid a twelve year old dimwit $10 to look after five babies/toddlers all day – I happened to pick up my two kids early one day when I discovered this – so beware of private sitters unless they have good references that you can contact. Well, I put that cunt right out of business after calling all the other parents. I finally had to enlist the help of a relative until a daycare spot became available. It sucks – I honestly feel for you and it is a travesty that more places aren’t available for kids under 18 months.
Ask your parents to sit? Leave your job? Even though I do personally believe that maternity leave should be extended to 24 months, it’s not like the lack of child care options available is a new phenomenon. So I guess you’ll have to figure out a way to deal with it.
YouYour significant otherYour relatives A babysitterYou’ve had 9 months and at least a few weeks of maternity to plan this shit out. You might also want to think about what to do with it when school starts and your kid needs to go somewhere besides the street.
I have a child on the way, and i consider myself lucky that my mother, my sister, and my wifes mother are all willing to go the extra mile and help us out. as for daycares, screw them they are expensive germ factories anyway, and who knows how safe the toys and equipment really are. in your shoes, id consider taking unpaid time off to spend those other months with your kid. after all, weigh it. money, or family
Shit, I’d put my kid on a daycare waiting list the minute I got knocked up. BTW Gone Postal: not everyone can AFFORD to take time off to stay at home with their kids. No matter how some people cut back, it’s either work or live on the street (and no matter HOW desperate we got, some of us would NEVER go on welfare)…so it’s not always as easy as “family or money”….it’s more like “homelessness/starvation or money”.
Shit, I’d put my kid on a daycare waiting list the minute I got knocked up. BTW Gone Postal: not everyone can AFFORD to take time off to stay at home with their kids. No matter how some people cut back, it’s either work or live on the street (and no matter HOW desperate we got, some of us would NEVER go on welfare)…so it’s not always as easy as “family or money”….it’s more like “homelessness/starvation or money”.
Wow, don’t you think you people are being a bit harsh on the op? It’s surprisingly hard to find sitters and even harder to find reliable ones. Many of us no longer have relatives that can care for our young ones while we work or run errands, or we actually take care of those relatives, if they have health issues, as well. It’s not like it was a few generations ago, or even last generation. Things have changed work-wise but the daycare spaces/ maternity/ paternity leave/ sitting situations haven’t to the point of making up the difference. It’s not like we’re taught in school that it can take years to find reliable or affordable childcare. At Dalhousie, they don’t even have one washroom that has a changing table in the entire university, let alone enough daycare spaces for the staff and students there.If more jobs allowed people to work from home (even for a month or so), then it would help out families a great deal, as well as the environment and the economy.
This one is a toughie. On the one hand I think people should wait to make expensive life decisions until they are in the right financial position. This why I don’t have a dog yet. But on the other hand, I don’t think childbearing should be seen as a luxury for the rich. After all, even someone living a comfortable middle class life can have their standard of living and expectations rocked by, say, an unexpected layoff.