By Barbara Hall, CNN
Sixty-four percent of mothers with children under the age of six work in the U.S. That makes for a lot of kids in daycare. The U.S. Department of Labor recommends parents spend no more than 10% of their annual income on child care. But experts say the cost of putting young children in a good program can cost $1,000 per month or more. Quality Care for Children is on par with tuition at some universities.
As I did with Michael, I Google each week of pregnancy that I’m approaching, just see what I should expect, and how baby should be growing. But this pregnancy is totally different from my first, of course. For example, I could feel the baby making a ruckus, as I was rocking Michael to sleep, and worried a little bit that Michael would feel it and look at me, wondering, “why is your belly moving, mama?”
Michael’s daycare lady told me a funny tidbit yesterday. There’s a new kid in the group, a boy close to Michael’s age whose secondary caregivers were his grandparents during his first year. So this makes him leery of strangers like me and leery of the daycare lady going out of view, making him cry — a lot. Michael and this boy were sitting in their respective high chairs for breakfast, and this boy was crying — again. Daycare lady said Michael turned to him and said, “stop.”
LOL!