The Hell of American Daycare

I read this article about the current condition of American childcare for working moms, and I've been saying this for years: until we fix this, women can't achieve true equality in the workplace in America. You can't be expected to go to work and perform with total concentration while your child is in a sub-par daycare.

People have asked me if I'm done having more kids.  That question totally depends on the future of my career. If I held a position where I could afford a quality daycare, then I totally wouldn't be opposed to having more kids- I love kids, I'm a good mom, and I like the idea of expanding my family. But as it stands now, there's no way I could afford quality care for an infant (you're talking $200+ a week for dependable infant care).

I won't go into the bad experiences I had with childcare over a cumulative twelve years (four years of pre-school childcare for each child) for my children.  Sometimes it was ridiculous- I literally had to decide between going to work that day and leaving my child in what I knew to be a questionable situation (home daycares? Never. Again.).  My oldest son actually came to work in the morning with me and would sit and play board games, play with cards, draw, or play chess with a friend of mine while I was baking the pastries and opening up the coffee shop I worked for and he waited for his ride to school.  Thank GOD the owner was cool with it and a very supportive boss to a working mom.  I think he was probably the last supportive boss I had, come to think of it.

I thought my worries were nearly over since two of my children are in elementary school, but my current management team has assured me otherwise. Three times my kids' school nurse had to call me this year: two for Callie and one for Grayson, both times they had a fever and could not remain at school, so I had to leave work to go pick them up.  I got written up for leaving work early. Wow.

That's what you get for being a single mom working at a corporate "big box" store. I combed the employee handbook with a fine-tooth comb...there are exactly zero protections for employees having to leave work to pick up a sick child. To qualify for protection under the FMLA, the illness has to be a "long-term" one and you must apply for those protections/benefits at least a month in advance [How does that request go? "In one month, I shall find out my child has cancer and I must leave to take care of him/her." Seriously?].  So there are basically no protections against a single parent getting fired for essentially being...a single parent (who else is going to pick up your sick kid? No daycare is going to pick him up either, if he's got a fever. Grandparents at work?  Aunts and uncles all at work?  Guess what....I've got to go pick him up.)

It's not just single parents, either. In this economy, most families need to be dual income to make ends meet. However, I know families in which one spouse stayed home simply because the cost of putting their children in dependable childcare would have been more than that party would bring home in his or her paycheck.

We've seen time and time again that countries and organizations that provide childcare have higher productivity rates and more successful employees than those who do not.  How do we not get this as a nation?  Even if the government doesn't provide childcare or childcare subsidies, the massive corporations should provide childcare facilities for their employees.  You put in a childcare center with a few staff, you make a minimal investment (in the grand scheme of your corporate spending), and you would more than get that money back in lost hours from employees who have to call out due to childcare issues. Not to mention, those employees would be happier and more at ease knowing their children are nearby and are safe, thus increasing the productivity when they are at work.  It's really a no-brainer.  But hell, considering most of the companies are cutting hours to avoid having to pay medical costs under new healthcare regulations, who really expects them to act as if they have any sort of moral compass?

So read the article (there's a pretty horrifying story...be warned), and if you don't have kids, try to imagine what your life would be like if you did. Working at night? Never again. Working overtime? Probably not- most daycares won't put up with it. Having a flexible schedule to be available to your company whenever?  Nope. You'll be a hassle and a burden to your employer and, if anything like my current situation, they'll try to make your working life so difficult that you leave so they can hire a kid with a wide-open schedule to replace you.  That's the reality of it.