"Poor cities, expensive day care"
Saturday, May 22, 2010 
In today's newspaper, I was reading an article called Arme Städte, teure Kitas (Poor cities, expensive day care). Let me (roughly) translate the first few paragraphs for you:
It is extremely unfair for parents: Depending on where they live, they will pay very different amounts for day care spaces and often the prices vary significantly even within a region. In Heilbronn parents don't pay anything, whereas in Tübingen (100km away) a high income family pays up to 3,700 Euros (about CDN$4,921 or US$4,656) per year for two children. While Dusseldorf offers free day care, Duisburg parents pay up to 2,700 Euros (about CDN$3,591 or US$3,397) per year for two children.
The explanation is usually simple: Many local governments need to save. Duisburg is so far in debt that the county government said it had to withdraw day care subsidies.
The article goes on to discuss the fact that rich cities are able to offer free day care to their citizens, whereas poor cities cannot afford to do so. This further exacerbates the gap between rich and poor and puts increased financial pressure on parents in poor areas. This is, of course, a good point and an important one at that. The article explains that "free day care in difficult times is a luxury."
I imagine that most North American parents reading an article like that would see their blood pressure rising and their heads exploding when comparing the prices of the extremely expensive day care that exists in some German cities with what they have to pay. I come from $7 per day day care land (otherwise known as Quebec), which would work out to around $3,500 per year for two children. In Canada, Quebec's day care program is highly coveted by other provinces where people pay much more for day care, so the thought of Quebec's day care program being considered extremely expensive would probably blow their minds.
On the other side, there are the North American critics of social programs who insist that they do not want to see their tax money being spent to pay for day care for other people's children. This came up as an issue when I wrote about the plans to offer full day junior and senior kindergarten in Ontario. I must admit I don't fully understand why people arbitrarily think it is okay for taxpayers to pay for school starting at the age of five, but object to it before then.
What do you think? Should the government be stepping up and subsidizing day care to ensure that everyone who needs or wants a space can afford it? Or is putting young children into care entirely a family's personal financial responsibility?
Note: The Kitas (day care) that I am talking about in the German context are generally for children aged 3 and above. However, there is also a push to increase the availability of spaces for children younger than that too. About 2/3 of 3 year olds go to Kita and about 90% of children attend Kita in their final "pre-school" (i.e. before Grade 1) year.
Photo credit: Michael Panse MdL on flickr
Reader Comments (54)
I find it difficult to comprehend that people ('taxpayers') are often unprepared to contribute to the costs of raising children, such as maternity pay and day care costs; however, they are invariably okay about cashing in on the advantages those children provide in the future. Children are tomorrow's tax payers, and to boil it down, the more invested a society is in its children, the more it can get out of them. If children were like investments, and only gave back to their investors, I wonder how many of the 'taxpayers' of today would suddenly realise that they actually should have contributed to their doctors, politicians, electricians and rubbish collectors. It is not just the parent, or the individual child who benefits, it is the rest of society also.
I agree. That's not to say ALL children should be in daycare if it's supported by tax dollars, I'd like to see people still being able to make the choice to keep children home, and hey, let's give SAH parents some kind of incentive too. But it is no longer realistic for most families to live on one income (and I'm not talking about the old "luxury lifestyle" argument that always comes up, that sure as heck isn't this working mom's experience LOL) so having good, affordable daycare available is important. And it benefits all of society for kids to be well-taken care of, at home or in care or in school, not just working parents.
(And I hate the old "raise your own kids" argument too, I am thanks muchly, with the help of caregivers and teachers, and I always wonder how many of the people that throw that around home school -- because surely we all should, if we're going to go off and have kids, right? Why expect taxpayers to help educate them (and yes, mind them in the day)? Or pay for their health care costs? Or...?)
Our situation is very similar, Fiona. We live in Victoria BC and have a similar combined income (although there are two of us). Good quality licensed daycare centres are over $1000/mo/child. Family unlicensed? Well, you get what you pay for. So we have figured out a nanny-sharing arrangement with another family, which I'm excited about because it means my son will be in his home most of the time and will always have the same caregiver, and will hopefully develop a close relationship with the other child. But, I would be lying if I didn't admit that the whole thing is being held together by a thread and it makes me very nervous. If the nanny gets pregnant, moves, decides she doesn't want to do it anymore, the other family backs out for some reason, etc., we'll be back to square one.
Well, I live in B.C., now have 4 children (week-old infant in arms! Squee!) and normally work full-time (on blessed EI mat leave.)
When I was working, and when I go back, there will be no subsidy. Zilch. Nada. We have FOUR kids under 9. My DH and I make good livings, but are still paying student loans. Two-thirds of what I make each month goes to child care. The rest pays our loans, which is the primary reason why I work.
The cheapest option for us? In-home live-in nanny care. We pay a living hourly wage with OT over 40 hours a week, pay the taxes and everything else above board, and it is still cheaper than unlicensed full-time day care for my 3-y-o, kindercare for my son (he is in 1/2 day kindie) and before and after school care for my first-born son. It's also stable and keeps my kids together, which is important to us.
My children's nanny is a consummate professional -- but is from overseas, so I often struggle with being a part of the globalization of female work. V., our nanny, tells me she is here to become a Canadian, and it's the opportunity of a lifetime, so stop beating myself up. I still struggle -- she has a 9-y-o daughter of her own at home with her DH. It breaks my heart -- but V.'s wages pay for private school for her dd, and will eventually pay to bring her family here. We need more Canadians like V. The whole thing is hard.
Anyway, my two cents -- btw, with taxes I pay about $CDN2000-2200 a MONTH for child care.