My daughter is so excited to head to kindergarten this fall. She talks nonstop about picking out the perfect backpack and how big the playground will be at her elementary school. There was an audible squeal when she saw that the Easter bunny brought her her own lunchbox (equal squeals for the pink calculator). And thanks to reading the Junie B. Jones books, she can’t wait to board the school bus with some of the other neighborhood kids. But me? I’m a mess.
I’m predictably sad that my daughter is growing up. Kindergarten feels like the final transition to the “big kid years.” But more so than that, I’m sad that going to kindergarten means our family will struggle more than ever with childcare. We’re trading financial struggles for stressful logistical struggles, and honestly, I’m not sure which one is worse.
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Dropping a daycare bill is exciting
Don’t get me wrong, I am excited about dropping one of our daycare bills. My husband and I have two daughters, and the weekly daycare cost for both is $785. We live in Raleigh, North Carolina, and while there are definitely families that pay more than we do elsewhere, it still feels like a lot to pay.
That’s just over $3,400 that comes out of our bank account a month, or $41,000 for the year. By the time they’re both out of daycare, we’ll have spent over $200,000 on childcare, which makes me nauseous just thinking about it…