wife and I did the math on it when we had 2 kids (we now have 3) and it became abundantly clear that day care was going to effectively cancel out her paycheck... we would have only had about a net of $250/month left from her paycheck... we decided to have her stay home, that $250 wasn't worth sending our kids away to a stranger and our family has benefited from it greatly... we eat healthier cuz mom fixes more homemade stuff, house stays cleaner, etc... it really is easier on everyone and in the long run has actually been cheaper.... but that is ~our~ situation... not everyone has the same circumstances to build around...
My wife is a teacher of 10 years. Luckily, the kids and her are on pretty much the same schedule. I am paying $600 a month for 1 child in daycare. My wife and I did not receive any raises last year and do not expect to for the next several years. I work in the local county government and my salary was actually reduced this year. I believe we had a 30 million dollar budget shortfall last year in our county and the prediction is that it will be worse this year. Hurting.
Just the $$ you guys are throwing around are scaring me. Plus, seeing what society is like these days, and being around today's youth everyday, it makes me think twice about having children...maybe someday, who knows.
One thought on staying at home with kids vs sending them to daycare. We considered this as well and we consulted other parents and did some research online, turns out that most "experts" as well as parents feel that daycare is best because they learn social structure virtually from birth, things they don't learn at home. Kids that are home cared and then start kindergarden or pre-school tend to have more adjusting problems that those who didn't. Obviously this is not the case with everyone but on average.
