Oh yes, the sun is out and it’s Monday, so the two cancel each other out and instead of a Sunday, we have…… well, we’re not sure, but we’re in a good mood, so Monday feels less like an angry Chinchilla nibbling our ear lobe; we’ll be thankful for that.
Our latest question for you is about child care. With the cost of child care being so high, very few families can afford to access that kind of support and then often find that going out to work only creates a situation where the majority of the income earned goes to childcare. So, what could our government do to help parents who go out to work?
Possible answer: Economic downturn or no, this area has been hugely problematic for years. Even in America in the 1970s parents’ needs were catered for….. our aunt in the US was able to leave her son at a very good crèche in her work place, check up on him whenever she wanted and the costs were low. Why don’t we do that here?
Researching Reform 
In the 80s I fought goverment and won the day for the right of childminding to be in a set up in the high street which was run as the same as a nursey, we taught the national corriclum, was open from 8 to 6 or 7 o’clock, the costs of running a childminding centre in the high street, was half the costs of any nursey. We only charged approx £70 a week as apposed to £130 or more. This information has not been in the media, and it should be highlighted, so that many parents can have child care at greatly reduced rates, via the childminding in the high street. should any one want the info please contact me. There is also the fact of grandparents of which thousands look after the children when the parents are working. So it is about time that grandparents had rights, remember no grandparents, no parents and no grandchildren.
Maggie.
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Thank you for your comment, Maggie.
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From the outside looking in, it would seem that even with government support, women still aren’t breaking even.
In the late 70s/80s, when I was a young mum, not as many women worked full time. Part time work during term time was not always possible, as many employers thought women might require time off work if their children fell ill during term time.
Also, from some of the stuff I’ve been reading, women still end up doing all or most of the household chores, even when they do go out to work full time.
They call parents who don’t work ‘Stay at home mums/dads’, but I think it’s about time what those parents do, is recognized for what it is (the equivilant to paid child minder and housekeeper jobs) and are renamed ‘Work at home dads/mums.
Except it’s unpaid work, really, isn’t it?
I agree with Maggie, grandparents do help their own children in many ways, by looking after their grandchildren. And they don’t usually get paid either.
My daughter doesn’t work, yet has relied on me to child mind (& be the second female figure to help out the first time mum), over the last three years, as no other grandparents were available to. Until recently she lived with me, with her little family, so I experienced the broken sleep patterns again, being woken up during the night by baby noises etc., (for all three years). Very hard to hold down a job for this grandparent, very tiring. Yet we do this because we look after our own. The government can’t help with that.
So I guess the question is. If the government wants to see more women in work, would it be willing to give the financial support to the grandparents (or other relatives) who do the child minding, in the same way that it is currently giving assistance with child minder costs? And would it be willing to up the subsidies it currently gives?
Either that or set a new higher minimum wage, so the lower incomed parents who do want to have one parent at home with the children, can afford to do so. But then I can’t see that happening now that we have changed the work demographic. Getting both genders into work has become a government goal, it would seem. Perhaps because we have so many single parents, it’s more costly to the government if the single parents are on benefits?
Personally I think parents who don’t work, in order that they can be at home with their little ones, are worth so much more than they are given credit for. They are the ones who make it possible/easier for the other parent to work or build a career. So in a roundabout way, they enable taxes to go to the government.
One parent gets a very difficult decision to have to make. Either go out to work and have their child(ren) looked after by a non-parent; or be at home with their child(ren) and forgo a wage and have more of a struggle to build a career when the time comes. Years of gaps in ones’ Curriculum Vitae can sometimes go against a person.
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Yes, I think parents who stay at home work as hard as working parents… having done both, I feel I have a little experience in this department! And with that decision to stay at home and nurture, comes many other sacrifices, both financial and otherwise – but it is so very much worth it and so much a pleasure. A real labour of love.
Thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful post, Fairy Dust 🙂
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Exactly that! Love for one’s little ones and their little ones. They pay is in kind, sort of. In seeing the happiness (grand)parenting brings, when you are there to see it, instantly.
You’re welcome re my writings 🙂
They are just my thoughts which are rather subjective. It’s only upon divorce, I have come to realise how much a parent can forgo when career was not an option. That is all.
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I Will have to visit again when my course load lets up – nonetheless I am taking your Feed so i can read your web blog offline. Cheers.
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Thank you. I hope it’s of interest and good luck with your course.
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