Childcare

lissa

I was a stay at home mum for 3 years, but now we have moved and I have started to be a Family Day Carer, I am actually Childcare trained and didn't see any point placing my children into care and paying someone to look after them while I go off and care for other children all day!!! So my options were continue to be a stay at home mum in an isolated area, we were living on a farm. Or move to town and put my training to good use and work from home with my 2 littlies there with me! Within 6 weeks I had no vacancies!!! Loving my JOB.

Anonymous

I am a stay at home mum of 3. I used to work in childcare and know how important it is o put your babies Surname down as soon as you find out your pregnant at a centre that you have a "good" feel about. These are far and few between. Staff retention rates are a good indicator of a stable centre

Possum

I have been trying to get my 3 year old into a childcare centre for months. I am on waiting lists for 3 different centres and haven't heard from any of them. I am only wanting 1 day a week on a Thursday or Friday and heard through my mother in law that a lady who is new to town was able to get her 3 year old son into one of the centres I am on a waiting list for on a Thursday. What does that say for their procedures on waiting lists! I am definitely not sending my son to that centre as this isn't the first problem I have had with them. My first problem was getting on the waiting list. I phoned for 3 weeks in a row to talk to someone about getting my son into the centre and they did not return one phone call. Anyway hopefully something will work out soon.

woosif

I did stay at home and have both my children in day care - I have noticed that it depends on the area and how built up it is.... if you choose to live in or close to CBD then of course you will pay more due to the business women with more money to use bump up the prices, my opinion to that is move to the burbs better for everyone around!

mrbrad

Both our kids went into family day care at 12 months. Wife (main breadwinner) had 9 months unpaid parental leave & I had 3 months upaid to get to the 12 months. That time with my kids was fantastic - pitty all the mothers wouldn't let a bloke into their "womens club". I'm not sure what their problem was but it was pretty lonely from an adult interaction point of view.

Family Day Care was hit & miss. The pay is very low & so lots of carers move on when their own kids go to school. Our first few carers were great but when the kids got to about 4 we had a few shockers & the kids made it quite clear they weren't happy.

We also sent them to kindergarten/pre-school which was difficult as they don't start until 9.00 & finish at 3.30 & are closed in the school holidays & there was no subsidy.

To make it a shorter day for the kids, I would start work at 6.30, so I could leave early and get the kids around 3.30; wife would drop kids off & start at 10.00 and come home late. Thank goodness for understanding employers & flexible working hours.

It didn't stop when they went to school - we've been shelling out for various levels of After School Care for the last 7 years.

Personally, I would have been happy to quit working & look after the kids but my wife can't stand to see me not in paid work.

bri74

i am a stay at home mum, i do this for my children,as i believe they need their mum,for the first few years of life, & i wouldn't swap it for the world. i have 11 children all up,but 10 living at home,it can be hard to afford everything in general,childcare fees are getting ridiculous now. my husband works full time. its amazing how being a decent parent & bringing them up at home,being with them everyday,i get dicriminated to no end. i am their mum,i bought them into the world & as far i am concerned,it's my responsibility. despite what people think being a at home mum,it one of the hardesy jobs to ever do!!

lucylue

it does come down to costs for us i have 14 month old twins so double any amount of cc cost even with ccb its useless

donitik

I would love to spend time with my little boy...feeling guilty going back to work...but due to circumstances, it's inevitable...but if I had a choice, I would stay home 24/7 and spend time with my boy...and also watch him grow and be part of his growth...

melchel

ive been involved in both issues of childcare... ive been a family daycare homebased childcare worker for 22 yrs. and loved every minute watching mums and dads bring their little ones to my home anywhere between 1 to 5 days per week.. and seen these little tots grow into socialble happy well adjusted pre schoolers then leave to go onto big school... and often had these same children ask to come to my home in the school hols.., yes the fees for f.d.c have always been more reasonable and more personel only upto 5 at any one time... then due to a leg injury i had to retire nearly 2 yrs ago, but with that came our beautiful 2 yr old grandson.. as mum had already had him in care with me from the time he was 10 months old.. so he was well versed in what happens and being a very sociable interacting child.. fitted in with all ages and stages that came through our gate. or door.... last yr in feb our daughter thought it would be nice to give nan and pop a break... and so she booked will into a preschool here in our town.. but with cost of child care .. good wages. and house mortage.. she and hubby can only afford 1day.. which is 52.00 and because of her job position there is no ccb. rebate.. so do mums and dad time share the childcare issues.. dad working during the day or night and mum doing her work trade at the opposite end of the day.. this can work really well and sure saves on fees.. we take will to playgroup one morning a week.. at the anglican church.. cost 2.00 and a piece of fruit... and it is just play group.. but all ages and stages mix well and mums or dads get a lovely hot cuppa and uually some yummo home made cake or slice.. and get to talk to other mums.. then we also go to the library .. park etc. so we cope really well but i also realise that some parents do not have all these choices.. and thats where it is hard , parenting is a job for prefably 2 people.. but with backup if needed.. like childcare centres family daycare.. playgroups ets. and maybe young mums getting together to just relax at the park etc.. doesnt cost much and k ids love it.., i enjoyed my previous child care career.. but am also enjoying our will growing and learning.. and i know that mum would love to stay home.. but if you want the home then you have to nut out whats best money wise. etc.. cheers.. enjoy parenting and cuddle your children every day at least once.. they are soooo precious.

melchel

ive been involved in both issues of childcare... ive been a family daycare homebased childcare worker for 22 yrs. and loved every minute watching mums and dads bring their little ones to my home anywhere between 1 to 5 days per week.. and seen these little tots grow into socialble happy well adjusted pre schoolers then leave to go onto big school... and often had these same children ask to come to my home in the school hols.., yes the fees for f.d.c have always been more reasonable and more personel only upto 5 at any one time... then due to a leg injury i had to retire nearly 2 yrs ago, but with that came our beautiful 2 yr old grandson.. as mum had already had him in care with from the time he was 10 months old.. so he was well versed in what happens and being a very sociable interacting child.. fitted in with all ages and stages that came through our gate. or door.... last yr in feb our daughter thought it would be nice to give nan and pop a break... and so she booked wil into a preschool here in our town.. but with cost of child care .. good wages. and house mortage.. she and hubby can only afford 1day.. which is 52.00 and because of her job position there is no ccb. rebate.. so do mums and dad time share the childcare issues.. dad working during the day or night and mum doing her work trade at the opposite end of the day.. this can work really well and sure saves on fees.. we take will to playgroup one morning a week.. at the anglican church.. cost 2.00 and a piece of fruit... and it is just play group.. but all ages and stages mix well and mums or dads get a lovely hot cuppa and uually some yummo home made cake or slice.. and get to talk to other mums.. then we also go to the library .. park etc. so we cope really well but i also realise that some parents do not have all these choices.. and thats where it is hard , parenting is a job for prefably 2 people.. but with backup if needed.. like childcare centres family daycare.. playgroups ets. and maybe young mums getting together to just relax at the park etc.. doesnt cost much and k ids love it.., i enjoyed my previous child care career.. but am also enjoying our will growing and learning.. and i know that mum would love to stay home.. but if you want the home then you have to nut out whats best money wise. etc.. cheers.. enjoy parenting and cuddle your children every day at least once.. they are soooo precious.

ally

I am a stay at home mum, I have my older two kids in kindy two days a week, so they can interact with other kids their own ages. I had no problem getting a place. I think it depends on where you live and th need for daycare in that area. We live out of the city area and I feel that makes a difference. Many of the childcare centres close to major cities are hard to get a place in.

turto

My wife went back part time after our second son was born, it turned out that after childcare we were only about $50 a week better off.
She decided that she would rather stay at home with our boys. So she now is a family day care mum and is able to stay home with our children plus get paid for looking after other kids as well.
In my opinion we have the best of both worlds.

Amy

After having my first child, i looked into going back to work full time and child care was easy enough to find but really expensive. I sat down and worked it out that i would get less than $50 a week for working full time. To me that was not worth it, glad to be a stay at home mum as i never missed any of the milestones that my children reached. Now i have two wonderful children aged 2 1\2 years and one at 16 months old, i now have a business at home and looking into a family day care at home as well so my kids get the interaction with others without the expense of child care. No shortage of child cares where i'm from but the expense is too much for me to come up with first.

Anonymous

Hi I am a stay at home mum of four. My eldest is 9 then6 then 3 and a 20 month old. Our government just has no idea on what it is really like to raise children in this day and age. My husband earns a above average wage and studied hard for 8 years to be qualifed to get it. With his job he travels 25 % of the time and I am on my own with four kids. We have just had our CCB taken away not that it was much. To receive the new rebate of out of pocket exspenses I have to be working or studing or doing volunteer work.

I have two boys at school both with special needs and boy at daycare two days a week at a cost of $160.00 a week. I am looking at putting my youngest in next year when she turns two. Both my inlaws and parent live inter state so there is no family support near by unless I have an emergency.

For me to return to work makes no financial sense. There has to be a better way. I read that some Mum's are working at night or weekends. No wonder divorce rates are up when one parent is walking in the door another is walking out. Maybe the government should subsides childcare workers wage instead so that the cost of daycares can go down and everyone can benefit from it.

The standard hourly rate for chilldcare set by the government is $3.47. Can someone tell where they get this figure because I am yet to find a daycare that charges this rate!

Anonymous

As a single mum it's hard to find out what the best thing to do is. Stay at home so you can spend that time with the kids or work long hours just to be able to afford to have them in childcare. It's not just the high charges for the childcare but all he little things, like, having to find on eopen the hours you work, trying to get tose hours with your empolyer, the travel.. What do you do? My daughter is 2 this year and i still have not returned to the work force. While i would love to it's to much stress. I m now in the process of opening my own business. This way i can earn the income without the stresses of having to find and pay for her childcare!!

fifers

We found it no problem to find childcare as we needed 5 days. I now pay $71 and get no childcare benefit as our combined income is putting us into the high income bracket - yet there is no way we could afford for me to stay home. Has the government seen the cost of mortgages in Sydney. We miss out by only a little amount with combined incomes. The government is out of touch with what is a high income -it should be 100 000 single income - that would be fairer.
But my son loves daycare - he has 3 other little bubs that are there 5 days with him and they have become little friends. It is amazing to watch the interaction between the kids. I also really enjoy being back at work, but would work part time if i could. What I find most annoying is that today I am looked down on for going to work - yet if i did not we would be living on the street as one wage does not cover a sydney mortgage yet we are considered high income family. the government need to get real.

Anonymous

Until my kids were over 1 I did not return to work as a preference to the importance of being home. Returning to work after my 1st I returned to my current job as a teacher and finding child care was a bit of a fluke as one opened up in our street at the right time.
He fit right in and they were happy to continue giving him expressed breast milk even though he was 15mths.
I worked from home from the time my daughter was 8mths old making baby slings and selling them, then when she was 13 mths old returned to teaching. We were able to find child care for our eldest, but not the baby, so friends looked after her for a term. We then found a child care centre that had space for both of them and they are great. They are happy to have my nappy free baby out of nappies there, and give her expressed breastmilk even though she is nearly 2.
I thought it would be challenging putting my high needs 'alternative' baby in child care but they have been open to our way of doing things.
As far as fees, one day of work for me pays the fees. I work 3 days so I get 2 days pay for our family. It works for us, and I hope it will continue to do so.

Anonymous

Until my kids were over 1 I did not return to work as a preference to the importance of being home. Returning to work after my 1st I returned to my current job as a teacher and finding child care was a bit of a fluke as one opened up in our street at the right time.
He fit right in and they were happy to continue giving him expressed breast milk even though he was 15mths.
I worked from home from the time my daughter was 8mths old making baby slings and selling them, then when she was 13 mths old returned to teaching. We were able to find child care for our eldest, but not the baby, so friends looked after her for a term. We then found a child care centre that had space for both of them and they are great. They are happy to have my nappy free baby out of nappies there, and give her expressed breastmilk even though she is nearly 2.
I thought it would be challenging putting my high needs 'alternative' baby in child care but they have been open to our way of doing things.
As far as fees, one day of work for me pays the fees. I work 3 days so I get 2 days pay for our family. It works for us, and I hope it will continue to do so.

Tan

I'm a fulltime working mum and am finding it difficult to afford childcare when you have companies like ABC centres who Molopolise the market and are charging over the top fees compared with other centres. This limits most parents to where they can afford to send their child/ren. I found care quite easily but I know of people who have to book in when they first find out thy're pregnant, how rediculious is that!! If you struggling for care try looking into a share nanny which you may be able to share with another Mum in a similar position hence cutting the costs of paying them exclusively for you. I also have know people to start in FAmily Daycare themselves because of the lack of childcare places. They then get the privledge of staying home with their child/ren and also getting paid to look after a few more, this in turn is helping other parents out too.

Anonymous

I say how did child care ever become an issue? Given, when the decision to raise a child is taken, why does the taxpayer become awarded the burden when that same person decides to dilute their responsibility. I further predict future generations will pay for the current day - caring mentality of selfishness. I further say that five years of attending to ones own little person needs to be hailed as normal, whilst farming out the children is badged as abandonment traded for indulgence. Eleven of us at this gathering all called 'hear, hear'. (in sum total we raise 19 children - 11 are of daycare age - but get this, NONE is farmed out to the child farms.)

jules

I think it depends on where you are as to the lack (or not) of childcare! We put our name down at all the places in our area and in the end could have gotten more than one place. I put my little girl in childcare at 7 months for 2 days and the obvious downside is the cost + the fact that she picks up all the various illnesses - the upside though is that she is really social, has no problems going to other people, her development has skyrocketed and apparently getting all the illnesses now means less when she starts school.

Our day care center separates the babies from the toddlers - they define a toddler as 1 year old or when a baby starts to walk - so hard to say when this will happen so places can come up at really short notice.

Hope this helps.

tracwy

i never had any troubles getting my daughter in one day a week last yera and my friend had no troubles getting hers in 2 days a week and other days if she is needed at work on short notice

Dimpz

I went back to work fulltime when my son was 10 months old. I come from the Penrith area (western sydney) and I could have got him into almost any of the childcare centres around here. I am on my son's childcare's parent committee and they haven't even filled their capacity. I am lucky enough that my parents are retired but are not too old to look after him 2 days a week and he is in childcare for the other 3 days. I am one of the mums who loves being back at work, I love to use my mind again, I do miss him but it makes our time together that bit more special.

gloria44

Hi, I am a grandmother but I have two daughters who have children. One is a single mum who has to work to live and because of her children's ages, she finds it difficult to find a suitable place for after school care. The other has a 16 month old and like most young people, she and her husband have a mortgage to cover so she goes to work for 2 days a week. She has been lucky to find a very good child care facility. She lives in Melbourne. I think it costs her about $55 per day. Probably the same costs as in Queensland.

crystalandsimon

We got onto childcare arrangements early, when I was three months pregnant. We visited three places we liked the look of and applied for a place at two of them. We went on a waiting list which was evaluated at the end of last year for a January intake. We were offered a place, possibly because we only required care for two consecutive days per week, and which days they were was variable. It has worked really well for us, for though I do not work, I am pregnant again, so having my 7 month old baby girl in care two days a week means I can rest and go to my Dr appointments the days she is at child care.

My advice would be to start as soon as you know you are pregnant - you can always refuse a place later if you change your mind. Look in the yellow pages, find a couple conveniently located and just 'turn up' to have a look. Put your name down at a couple, first, second and third choices for example, and follow their instructions. Some say call at some time to prove your interest (one said six months down the track), some will call you.

Good luck :)

Boofuls

My son is 7 months old and I was planning to stay at home until he was 12 months old. However I am returning to work in Jan. I am very fortunate in that I am in my own consulting business and the amount of money I can earn in a day is close to what many can earn in a week, so the cost of childcare is not an issue. I would love to continue to stay at home full time, but in order for us to continue our lifestyle and to have a second child I need to build the bank up a bit!

Again I am lucky and I am only planning to work occassional days/weeks and have my son booked in to childcare for Mon/Tues every week, however there are occasions where I will have to work a whole week and a friend with a baby the same age as my son is going to look after him on those occasions and we'll see how it goes. THe childcare centre he is booked into is $70 per day, which seems to be quite high?

I don't think that anyone should feel guilty about going back to work and putting their kids into daycare. If you are working you just need to make sure that the time you do get to spend with your kids is quality time. With the current interest rates, cost of living etc, more and more people need to be in work. Don't let other people put you down and make you feel like an unfit mother for returning to work!

Jo

I had to wait on a waiting list in every daycare facility in our town. I signed up when I was still pregnant with our son. I eventually got care when he was five months. I went back to work when he was four weeks old. I was lucky enough that I was able to take him to work with me. If I couldn't I don't know what I would have done because I don't have any family in town. The stupid thing is that childcare places are stipulated by the government. Can't they see that we are screaming out for places. My other whinge is that there are mothers who have children in day care that don't work. I understand that day care gives children interaction and a free day for the mother but when working mother need that places I think we should have first priority. The costs of daycare are also unfair. Single income families whose mothers don't work and send their children to day care don't pay anything. Double income families there is no tax break for us. It sucks!!!

Deb

I am half stay at home mum and half working mum as me and my hubby own a business. Have two daughters, eldest is eight and in Grade 2 and I hadn't thought about childcare for her as we did everything else eg. playgroup, etc and my youngest is five and goes to kinder 2 days a week. This one however is a bit full on and so I needed a bit of break from her for some much needed "me" time so I started looking into childcare centres to see what was available. Heard a lot of stories regarding the wait to get into some of the ones here, as I wanted two days a week childcare so I could concentrate on our business, so I got a bit of a shock when the ABC Centre l looked into accepted us and we started there at the beginning of the 2006 school year and we are still there this year but for only 1 day a week and this will be our final year due to full-time school next year.

Bo

Bo Whitten Surfers Paradise. Stay home with your baby as long as financially possible .Push the govt. to help mums to raise their own child and stay home .The next best care for your baby is Family Day Care where the trained carer is as close to a nanny as possible within a home environment. Avoid institutions like the plaque and push for the mum to raise her own kids!

Stephanie

Had a lot of trouble in Sydney as most places the people on the wait list had had their name down since birth. Luckily one of the centres I tried was run by an old school friend I had lost touch with, who helped me out.

nadia_779

I am home with my son, will go back to work next year when my husband has long service leave.. after that it is childcare! I have heard it's nearly impossible in Canberra to find a spot. Does anyone know about it? I wish I could stay home with him but we can't afford one income.

Anonymous

I am home with my son, will go back to work next year when my husband has long service leave.. after that it is childcare! I have heard it's nearly impossible in Canberra to find a spot. Does...

Can anyone help Nadia out?

Lou

Childcare has been an issue for quite some time, though the number of places has improved significantly. In the immediate area (within 6km) from our house we have the luxury of 12 to 15 centres, while in some areas of Brisbane eg The Gap there are few options. Family daycare Vs Centre based care is another interesting decision to make before "finding a place" can be dealt with. Which is a healthier environment - 1 adult with 4 children or a group of 8 to 25 with 2 adults??? I have gone from working full time with my first child in daycare 3 days a week and staying at home with grandma 2 days to a stay at home mum, with our second child. We are lucky to have excellent accessibility to quality daycare. My only other tip is to get into the daycare centre or family daycare during your second trimester of pregnancy.

UnLucky

The hardest part of working full time is finding suitable care before school . Most places offer after school but not in the morinings. It has taken me 48mths to find a family day care lady that will take my child on a casual basis . I find word of mouth is best and also by asking. If you don't you never know

Sammy

I live in Manly West (SEQ area) and there are childcare centres cropping up all the time. My daughter (3yrs) goes to Kindy 2 days a week while I stay at home with my 1 yr old. My eldest has been there since she was 9 months, because I went back to work between the two kids. I put 3's name down early so I didn't have any problem getting a spot, although at the time the number of centres that offered spots for kids under 15 months were harder to find. But that was in 2004, and I imagine things have changed(?) with all the centres coming up.

Look, as far as I am concerned, no one looks after your kids as good as you, but sometimes you have to bight the bullet and trust the carers. It is in their best interest to treat the kids well and look after them isn't it! It was hard leaving 3 for the first time...afterall they were strangers, but they know what they are doing. And it honestly is good for their social development.

What I did hate about it was the constant sickness for the first couple of months. It seemed I had to take time off work every second week because she would get sick. What outraged me the most was that it was because some parents would sent their sick kids to day care instead of keeping them at home (and I'm not talking about a runny nose or cold...I mean with green snot, or other highly infectious nasties such as gastro or conjuctivitis!!). If I can stay home with my child, so could they! Besides, day care is the last place they want to be when they are sick...they want to be at home with someone close to them to make them feel comfortable...some parents needed to put themselves in their little ones shoes. I could go on and on about this, but I won't because I just get so mad.

Anyway, aside from that, 3 loves going to kindy and playing with her friends. This is not to say I think there is anything wrong with being a stay at home mum of course...afterall...I am one at the moment, and I am enjoying it. But I go to the gym several times a week and leave the kids at the creche...it is great for my sanity.

kuz78au

Hi there, I'm in Campbelltown and there seems to be an abundance of daycares! But again an abundance of kiddies! So days are hard to get sometimes! I'm a single parent and am able to get a pension. As long as I earn under $1000 gross per fortnight I can still get the (part) pension and be able to get the 100% rebate on childcare. It works out about $100-$200 per week better off if I work. I just moved from QLD and it's cheaper down here for childcare than up there! What's with that?!! The only drawback is you are only eligible for 24hours daycare per week. But I really do think that childcare is a great learning experience for your child and gives them great social skills but also understand that staying at home with them is important. So because I'm part-time I feel like I can have the best of both worlds sometimes. But I do know that when I'm stressed about work, it can ripple through the home life too, that's an important factor to consider also.
As for tips for childcare, try family daycare. It's just as good as normal daycare and they do need to go through strignent outlines and procedures to be accredited.

Felic

I only found one available daycare in my area - and it was available because it is in quite an "out of the way" street. In my part-time job I am only just "breaking even" with the cost of care, but want to send my daughter there for her social development and to ellivate her boredom! Working also gives me the chance to socialise. We could possibly be better off, as a low-income family, to not send our daughter to care and this is something we will have to think about when we plan a second child.

mermaid

Have not been able to get any childcare in our area and are starting to find it difficult financially on one income. We expected to wait about 6 months for a position and it is now more than 9 months. We have been told to expect a wait of possibly up to 2 years!!! A close relative of mine works in childcare and has told me that some parents offer bribes ( to the centre and to staff) to be given a position for their child and some parents have even made threats to discredit (ie. make reports against) the centre or the staff if they aren't given positions for their children. It is out of control.

amy_michelle

I enjoy staying home, but even if i considered working i think childcare would cost more than what i make.

tasha

when i was a younger mum i found childcare a nightmare as more than half my pay went to care for my 3 kids.I t was not easy to find care and when I did it ended my kids hated the childcare person because she hit them as a conseqeunce i qiut my job and i stayed at home. Really make sure your kids are happy to be left in care, if not move them to someone else.

shaza

iam a stay at home mum all the way . 20yrs ago i juggled working before and after having my first 4 daughters and it was to much pressure its not fair on the children either life is to short , iam staying at home with my no 5 daughter at least until she is school age and then it will only part time.

meddens

We moved recently and were very lucky to get into brilliant care. However, we did try one centre prior and left 15 minutes after arriving because it was fithy and the carers obviously didn't care. This meant that my parents (thankfully were not travelling at this time) looked after our daughter for 6 weeks until we got her into the care she now uses.


My tip for people trying to get into care is to not rely on the waiting lists to get in, simply ring the centre on a monthly basis. We found that we got in, not because we had been on the list to longest, rather that we phoned at the right time (the start of the school year - once they new how many places they had free)

Anonymous

We moved recently and were very lucky to get into brilliant care. However, we did try one centre prior and left 15 minutes after arriving because it was fithy and the carers obviously didn't care....

That sounds like good advice

rufus

Good to hear so many other mothers struggle with child care. We have tried 3 different centres and family day care. The centre we are with now is great, the care provided is first class - but the other two centres were not so good. Mind you we PAY extra now for the better quality, even though financially its difficult. For those mums finding child care expensive, family day care is a good option, our daughter really enjoyed her time with her family day care mum, who unfortunately left the industry. The government now will also subsidise an in home carer to look after your child in your own home, I wish that had been around when my daughter was younger !!! I agree with previous comments that we need a woman with some political clout to get into power and acknowledge the financial and emotional issues in finding quality child care. ? any budding politicians amongst you

2gems

After my 1st born I was lucky enough to find childcare 2 minutes away from home. I went back to work when she was 9mths. She has been in care until about 3 months ago when an incident happened and I also had another baby so Im at home with the 2 of them. I recently looked into going back to work and putting the girls in childcare, either full or part time but it is WAY TO EXPENSIVE. The government does not make it easy for me to go back to work. I think they are trying to keep mums out of the workforce. I was going to be working a month and only taking home a weeks pay.... NO THANKS!!! So now we stay at home and struggle to make ends meet, when I could be out there working making a better life for my children & making me happier. I love staying at home with the girls but I also love my work and to not be able to have the choice to do both really sucks.

Felix Fan

Part of the reason i chose to be a stay at home mum is because of the lack of good childcare. I believe children are better off where possible to be with one of their parents anyway.

rueandash

i'm a stay at home mum, i don't want to put my children in childcare not now not ever. why would i want to trust some strangers to look after my children. this is why i will be putting my children into the steiner schools they have the same teacher all the way through so this person is not a stranger almost becomes an extention of the family.

lazyrose74

After I had my first I was very lucky to be able to find childcare for my son and return to work as a soldier in the Army. We were on about 10 waiting lists with no hope of getting a place. Luckily Defence have a contract with ABC and a place came up for my son. After I had my second, it wasn't financially viable for me to return to work. Childcare costs took up almost my whole take home pay. Then there were the stresses of working full time with 2 babies while my husband was only home for short periods of time.
We chose for me to be a stay at home mum for financial and emotional reasons. We would have found care for my second but it just wasn't worth it.
Now, my children are in care once a week for socialisation and to give me a break!

rueandash

Cher

I was lucky enough to find a fantastic child care centre for my child where she stayed until she began kindy (this year). The child care centre was fantastic, the staff were attentive and their were no issues in the 2 1/2 years that my child attended.....now that she is attending after-school care I've had a number of problems the most serious being that she has been left off the bus!! Going from a perfect child care centre to one that appears to be run by unprofessional morons has been a most unpleasant experience.

I really feel for the parents out there who are struggling to find decent child care centres for their children - child care is very expensive so we should feel confident that our children are in capable hands.

IsabellaGrace

I put my name down at 7 different childcare location when I was only 4 months pregnant, and now my daughter is 10.5 months old and I still haven't a place in any of these locations! I have just in the last month managed to find a carer through the Family Daycare Association, but I am forced to place her into fulltime care as so part-time days are available, which due to the cost involved is requiring me to return to work fulltime, even though we had only planned on my returning 2-3 days a week once she turns one.

Anonymous

I put my name down at 7 different childcare location when I was only 4 months pregnant, and now my daughter is 10.5 months old and I still haven't a place in any of these locations! I have just in...

It doesn't seem right does it?

geniebean

I was a stay at home mum running an online babywear business & a graphic design business and I found it too hard so I closed the babywear business. Now I am going into an office 2 days a week and I LOVE it. I have adult conversartion and get praise for my work. And then I get to spend the other 3 days with my daughter and I'm refreshed and able to interact with her on a better level.

I have her in childcare one day and with my grandma the other. But I'm thinking of upping a day because she really enjoys it, although, I am sick to death of her becoming sick almost every week.

I got her into a good centre as soon as I needed it (I think b/c I put her down when I was 7 weeks pregnant). And that would be my tip - put them down whilst still pregnant and estimate a time you'd need it.

crittie

i had to put my daughter into child care very early and go back to work. i found childcare very easily. i found that child care was very expensive. my daughter is now at school and being a manager of a business a have to have her in before and after school care. it is very expensive, especially on school holidays!

KG

Hi,
I have a 2 1/2 yr old and a 6 month old baby. Childcare was not such a problem with my first but we are about to move home and I am having trouble finding a child care centre that opens early enough for me. When I do go back to work, my shifts will start at 7 am and I am struggling to find centres that open before then. The centre my daughter is in now opens at 6.30 am but is 10 mins from our new house and at 6.30 am 10 minutes is vital. So I am not sure what I am going to do about it. But in general my experience with child care centres has been very good.

Doors

I have worked in Children's Services for about 15 years. Shortages come and go in cycles, depending on what funding is available to services and families. Since having my own children, I view Child Care differently. It's not just about shortages of places, I do not want to send my child to a service which is not up to my standards. Parents should not have to send their children to a service because its on the way to work and they have a vacancy - our children are too precious. We want a service which is of high quality and which we trust our children to.
The shortages are also dependent on your area, and the age of children. Some areas have an abundant of services where others are lacking.
Having two children in childcare would take away about half my take home income. I'm not sure I can deal with doing my stressful job for half the pay.
Lastly, staff in children's services are under valued and under paid. The work load has increased dramatically since I stared in child care. Working directly with children and families is only part of our roles, there are so many other tasks we are expected to do. With 1 staff for 10 children over 3, and 1-8 for 2 yr olds, and 1-5 for under 2's how is this all possible. Many staff have little time allocated away from the children to complete all there roles.
Lets get better conditions for staff, more funds for services, and more assistants for families.

navygirl

Concur, unfortunately, we cannot always get the care when we need it and I found my problem was the most difficult the younger the child. With both my children (7 years apart) I could not get childcare in a long day care centre for 5 days a week. So when I knew the date I was returning to work I planned 2 months ahead and put around a flyer asking for a stay at home mum to care for
my child from about 4 months old. I had a few phonecalls and I conducted interviews in their homes. I had a list of questions and I had decided what I was going to pay was on par with what I was going to pay a childcare centre and we did it cash in hand. Yes, I missed out on any government benefits and there were risks involved, but luckily I found two wonderful Mum's who filled the void for 12 months until I got my boys into long day care.

Anonymous

i was working a 9-3 job and with a tadaler i was finding it hecdic when he would fall sick from all the bug's but lucky i had my perents to help me through after a will i hade to change day care because they would swop all there botels and dumy's i was even get other childerens toys at one point thats when i stop that andchange and it has been ok sins

Anonymous

I agree that there is an issue with childcare. Having lived in the Hills District and now in the lower Blue Mountains area, I have found that there was a significant shortage in places; especially for children in the 0-2 yr age bracket. Most centres in the Lower Blue Mountains area only catered for ages 2 and up. At the time it wasn't an issue because I worked casual hours, but I was looking for full time care as I was looking for work at the time. I was lucky that I found care pretty much straight away, but I have heard from other mums; that's not always the case. What seemed to interest me the most was that in the Hills, there are childcare centres at every corner, but In the Lower Blue Mountains area you really have to hunt around to find a childcare centre that accommodates for children 2 years... A little unfair when you think about it.

Anonymous

I put my name down at 7 different childcare location when I was only 4 months pregnant, and now my daughter is 10.5 months old and I still haven't a place in any of these locations! I have just in...

I agree, it appears to be more of a struggle to find care for under 2's - particularly in my area.

Que

When i returned to work 2 years ago after having my Son, my problem wasnt finding childcare vacancies, but a vacancy in a quality centre. I found alot of centres had places but i wouldnt have felt comfortable leaving my most preceious possesion with them. As it is i ended out changing centres 6 months into my return to work. My tip is put your name down early, if a place comes available before you are ready to return to work, try putting your baby in for 1 afternoon a week or something until you are ready, as this will help them adapt slowlu, and children already part of the centre will get priority over new children when you want to increase the days he or she attends. Also Shop around, dont settle on the first place you find. Look for centres with a good atmosphere, cleanliness, education plans and good parent - centre relationship. Go with your mothers instinct - if it feels wrong, it probably is!

Nikki

Mothers are finding it hard to get a few days a week, just to give mum a break but to also give the child social skills. I was lucky to get in straight away, and I know there are a few family day carers struggling to get children. At the end of the day, it is quite expensive for childcare, and to go back to work, you would be working for an extra $60 by the end of the week, which to me, doesnt pay enough for missing out on my childs growing. Therefore I choose to stay at home, and live on a tight budget.

Styna

Child care is relativley easy to find - affordable, GOOD childcare is much harder. Our closest centre has 5 spaces for 2-3's on most days but when you see the size of the room these kids are assigned its no surprise and for $56 a day I would prefer to keep my 2yo at home and do a few hours work remotely each day. If I were to go into work at North Sydney childcare cost sky rocket to $85 to $105 a day. Not worth the effort when even with all the rebates most of the money earned is paid straight to childcare.

sky1987

hi ive struggled to be able to get my 12 month old daughter in day care and as well as my 2 and a 1/2 year old and when i have phoned day cares they can place one child but not the other

Anonymous

i have had my son on a waiting list for just over a year i have returned to work and it is hard to find someone to watch him. I am lucky enough to be able to take him to work with me at the moment. I think it is disgusting the amount of time we have to wait. I think it is really important to put children in childcare at least twice a week to improve there social skills and communication.

Jodie

As a mum of a 2 and a half year old and a 2 week old baby, childcare at the moment is a god send for my daughter aswell as for me. I have my daughter in family day care as we looked at centres and the ones available in our area i walked into and it just didn't feel right at all. Its alot cheaper as you don't have to pay for a full day if your not going to use it... you have a minimum requirement i think is 4 or 5 hours but you pay for what you use! We discussed taking her out or dropping a day, she goes 2 days a week, but when we looked at how much she enjoyed it and the social interaction that she had in the last 2 weeks that wasn't her mum or her dad or her new sister she was alot calmer when she got home.. she was warn out but she had a break from us and home into a world of imagination and kids to play with.
I found family day care through friends... through mothers group and friends of friends... even through your local clinics that you visit to get your babies checked. I love our carer she is now one of my good friends and im thinking that we aren't going to bother with pre-school until Emily is 4 because she gets one on one attention at her place. She has a max of 5 kids at one time and they are the same 5 kids each week not random drop ins...i personally like family day care better but alot of my friends use centres and they feel the same way about the centres as i do about Family daycare.
It comes down to what you feel comfortable with.. if you walk into the place with an open mind and it still doesn't feel right its not right for you obviously!!

Larissa

I am in the middle of finding care and I must admit I was advised of the month I could bring my baby in, only to have this changed on me to a later month. This does not help matters when there are only enough finances to get you so far. As I do not have a car, it's extremely limiting to what childcare place I can use as it needs to be close to home and along the route to the train station to get to work.

angelskies

I had no problem finding good care but it can be remarkably expensive, sadly its not uncommon to hear of people spending over $100 a day PER CHILD on care alone, and sadly while the child care rebate does help it does mean with its limits it can't help all that much as you can only claim up to $4000 even if you pay a great deal more.

Family day care is much more affordable but the places are very rare and a lot of parents are concerned about the quality of care. It does make care a large consideration in your options whether to work or study as you can quite easily find yourself working 5 days a week only to just cover costs.

Advice to mums struggling to find care: if possible if you have more then one child go with a nanny, you get less funds back but with sky high costs it can work out a LOT cheaper. Plus at least then you know your child is getting SOME one on one care.

broni

I was extremely fortunate (couldn't believe it actually!), that I was able to place my daughter in child care right next door to my workplace. As I was still breastfeeding, I was welcome to come & feed her in my lunch break. This also gave me an opportunity to see her in Care & build a relationship with her carers. My only problem is, as a teacher, I want to take her out for more than the standard 30 days of holidays per year, so I either have to pay anyway, or take her out over Christmas, and hope I can get her place back next year.

Monny

hi im not a mum my self but im just going to say that i pretty much h ad to raise my
little brothers because my mum couldnt she was on drugs and all sorts well i had
to do all the stuff that a normal mother would do but with a little help from the local communtiy center
they refferd me to a really good and cheap day care that they could go to and they elped out when ever
they could if you ask me i just say shop around dont just go for the first one you find.
make sure i meets you standards and you feel comfortable somethimes it is easy but sometime it can be stressfull.
im sorry if this doesnt help you i just thought i would share my story with you.

Anonymous

From what I have expwerianced it's easy to get childcare for older kids, but not babies and toddlers. My daughter goes to a great child care centre, and loves it but it costs so much for 2 days and can't afford to put my son in for a day even though he'd love it, my daughter really needs more time their to interact with kids but out of our budget range!

mrsdomma

I am a childcare worker. I worked in a centre for 5 years till I became pregnant. I am now a family daycare provider. Family Day Care is an option parents should consider. The ratios are far better than any centre could offer, there are strict policies and guidelines carers need to follow, surprise visit checks to ensure all carers are doing the right thing and it provides a loving home environment for your child where you can work out with the carer just how you want your child to be cared for/ settled/ fed etc.
I am happy too, getting paid what I want, with 4 children to care for of varying ages each day (including my own), providing the experiences and activities that I want my child to experience. The children I care for and their families are more like extended family now. Everyone wins. If you are interested in using family daycare or training to become a family daycare provider, llok up and call your states family daycare head office.

GR8kidsX3

We had trouble finding care for all three of our children when I was due to go back to work. While they were little I preferred that they were in Family Daycare, but they are always short on carers and sometimes some of the people that are free you wouldn't leave your dog with. I fortunately have a wonderful family and my mother who absolutely dotes on my kids was begging to have them. I didn' t like the idea of my Mum having them full time so I sent them to a child care centre for half of the week. It turned out to be a very good arrangement as if my mother was sick or had to go away I could arrange for them to go into the centre.
Now that they are a lot older I have also used out of hours school care and vacation care, but my kids hate it. Everyone I seem to talk to about school aged care as mentioned above - their children hate it. Does anyone elses children not enjoy going to this service?

kim

I am very frustrated with the lack of childcare. I had my son listed with several centers from the time I was 3months pregnant. I had to return to full time work when he was 11 months old and still had no place for him. Luckily our neighbour came to the rescue and looked after him for us until he was 14 months old and had a full time place at daycare. Now we have had our daughter and have had her on the list at the same center as my son since I was 3 months pregnant. I was concerned about getting full time care for her, as I had intended to only have 3 months off work. Our daycare center assured us that as our son already attended we would have no problem and would be guaranteed a place for my daughter. She is now 9 months old and I've had to keep putting off going back to work fulltime and have returned part time working nights and weekends as we still can't get a place for her. She will be 18mths old before they look like having a place available fro her.

joblue1

We had our 1st baby's name on several child care waiting lists before he born. We then had to rearrange our working lives to accommodate so that I could work 2 days. We could only get care for 1 day. My husband had to go partime so he could look after the kids on the other day. We had to do this for 12 months before we could get the boys in for 2 days. We need to get care for our baby as well from Jan 2008 (hopefully with her 2 brothers), the cost for 3 children for 2 days is more than I earn, and I lose Family Tax B, but I will lose my skills (& "eye" for what I do) then I'll need to retrain, catch 22.
My suggestion would be to keep in touch (Maybe call once a month) with the centres you are interested in, maybe more often towards Sept / Oct when they make their offers.

Kylie

At present I am a stay at home mum to 2 boys, 3 yrs & 7 mths. I also study part time. We moved when my first son was 9mths and I went from working full time and my husband caring for him to not working just studying and my husband back at work full time. When he was 16mths I placed him in childcare one day/week so I could study. I didn't have a problem finding care however one centre I looked at had a girl who looked about 16 in the babies room so I gave it a miss! I found a fantastic privately owned daycare centre which we felt comfortable with while he was in the babies room however once he went into the bigger kids room we weren't really happy with him going there anymore as no one could tell you what he had done for the day when we picked him up. He is now attending kindy 5 days/fortnight and absolutely loves it - we really notice the difference. I am weighing up whether to put my 7 mth old in care but finding a job here that is flexible around my son's kindy & finding care just as flexible doesn't really encourage me to try. Going back to work for me would purely be social as the financial cost eats any income earned. I am yet to look into family daycare, I have heard good things about it but nothing in my area and if you are going to drop your child at someone's house each day I would like to hear something positive about them first. At one stage a close friend lived near me with a child the same age so we would take turns looking after each others kids as she worked part time. That worked fantastically but you have to have the same values for raising your children in order for it to be successful.

Kath

I am a stay at home mum but I changed my career/ position to work at night on a casual basis. I wanted to be able to stay at home with my kids but getting some extra income now and again has been really helpful. I have put my eldest son in child care 1 day a week for socialisation with other kids his age, but I didn't have any trouble finding a spot for him. There seems to be a plethora of centres within the area I live in. However, I have friends who cannot get places who live inner city. I pay $60 for the day. I have heard of women belonging to mother's/playgroups who have set up a sort of baby sitting scheme whereby each person earns a certain amount of points by looking after each other's kids. It probably wouldn't work out if you needed weekly care but it's something to think about if you have a good, reliable group of friends with kids.

Em

Hi, I am still at home with my 10 month old girl. We are on waiting lists at two childcare centres and are flexible as to which days a week and how many days. We know of people who have had their name on waiting lists from the moment they were pregnant but still had to call the centre every day to hassle them for a place. I do know that a few new centres are opening soon, so maybe that will spread the demand. It feels a bit unfair that the choice is removed from the parents (ie which centre and staff you like isn't so much the point, as which centre you can actually get in to).

dannii_stuch

I have found it very easy to place my daughter into a child care facilty. I must admit though I do live in a rural area of south west victoria. I have really had much of a choice but to go back to work - one wage hasn't really helped our situation. But thankfully I can go back part time and work three days a week. My 11month old daughter will be going to an ABC facility, and I have found the staff really great during my orientation and I feel quite comfortable to leave my daughter there.

The Governor

You need to keep the lines of communication open, which is not as easy as it sounds. I use the time in the car taking my son to the bus stop to talk to him, some days it's just normal chit chat but other days we talk about very serious topics for teenagers. I think also having your child know that they have someone besides their parents that they can talk to & my son has my younger brother, who although in his 30's still acts like a teenager - lol!
I am glad that my son has someone like my brother to talk to & we have never kept anything from our son, we might have explained things to him in simpler terms when he was younger but now that he is 15 & asking questions about things that happened in the past, we have taken the chance to give him open & honest answers.
I have been married for 10yrs to my 2nd husband & my 1st husband tried to kidnap my son on several ocassions & was never reliable with access / etc & my son knows all about this but he also knows that these things happened a very long time ago & that I don't hold a grudge against my ex for anything that he did back then - because my son realises how selfish my ex can be & he has fully accepted that fact.

Anonymous

I am a mum of a 3yr and 1yr i returned to work in feburay this year. i was a stay at home mum but as the bills started to pile i need a job i looked for part time but to no avail so i started on casual and full time and took the first job avail as there is not much work were i live. i had trouble finding a childcare for both my children and the expense was to much as i have to pay for hours you dont use and public holidays when the centre isnt even open. i think there should be more flexiablity i am sure there are people that just need afternoon care or just moring care. the other issue we had was that both my husband and i work fulltime it would cost us more. As if you are on the dole a single parent etc you pay much less then half of the fee. this makes me mad and shows me no wonder people dont wont to work when you can get a handout when you dont work. Anyway finally settled with one day at childcare centre and 2 days at family daycare after much heart ache in finding place for only the afternoon when this service promotes flexiablity strongly. My family daycare mum has now asked that i but my children full day or she may no longer be able to care for my kids. the other two days my husband uses his flexies to have the afternoon off or works form home but with two small children finds this dosent happen to often. We have had to do it this way due to me not able to earn enough for fulltime time care especially at a childcare centre even with the child care benefit. And as for Family daycare there are not enough places for fulltime care were i live.

narelle

Childcare in the City of Port Phillip is almost non exisitent - there are approx 1500 people on the waitlist for council run care !!!!! Privately run childcare is around $80 per day - which would be half my salary. But once again I am on a wait list - I am assuming I can go back to work part time but it all depends on getting a place. My sister and I are thinking of hiring a nanny together it would cost us each $80 per day each, the same as we would pay in childcare. The childcare rebate is too low, once you earn over $38,000 it starts to reduce - for most of us on dual income we earn over $38,000 but under $100,000 you get about 46 cent an hour - ridiculously low. If we get a nanny we are only entitled to 24 cents per hour !!!!! Not much incentive to go back to work.

Diva

I put my name down at 7 different childcare location when I was only 4 months pregnant, and now my daughter is 10.5 months old and I still haven't a place in any of these locations! I have just in...

Unfortunately yes! And its another Victorian town! Im a single Mum with an 8yo boy, I originally went back to work when he was 2 but in my area the option of child care was severely limited to a fat zilch- nudda! There isnt even a Family Day Carer around us. At the time I was on good ol Public Transport & spent 3 hours travelling before & after my shifts to get him to someone to care for him so I could do a shift that sometimes was only 3 hours long. It was just ridiculous. I hung in for 6 months but when he was diagnosed with development delays, I packed it in to be able to focus on him more & give him the Mum he needed, rather than the tired stressed out one he was lumped with. 6 years on & not much else has changed, our local Council has finally approved a Creche at a central position but the older residents in the street are protesting about the location. VCAT has allowed it to go ahead but it wont be until next year sometime before it opens & you can just imagine the waiting list they'll have!! As for Out of School Care, it is shared by 3 local schools & the operating hours severely limit the hours able to obtain care. Its ludicrous! Vacation care is an even shorter day again.

Diva

Childcare in the City of Port Phillip is almost non exisitent - there are approx 1500 people on the waitlist for council run care !!!!! Privately run childcare is around $80 per day - which would...

Wow - any other area as tough as this?

ropeter

I am fortunate to be a stay-at-home mum for the most part (I work at night once a week), as my husband and I came to parentlhood relatively late in our 30's and thank God the mortgage is no more.
However I find I still need help, especially the day after I've worked at night. I get on average an hour and a half's sleep while my Mum (who lives with us) minds our daughter, then I'm up all day with an active toddler.
I have a great deal of empathy with parents who must leave their child in care while they work, and I don't know how they do it.

ruralmum

If you want to get your child into a quality childcare setting, that is when you encounter big waiting lists. Where we live there are lots of childcare centres but probably only two that I would even consider my children attending, luckily we have gained a place for each of our two children. It is really hard though when it is time to go back to work, and you don't know if you have any childcare days, can you get the same days for both your children, will both children be able to get places at the same centre. I have dropped down to two days at work because we could only get two days at our childcare centre.

shelly

hi there its been a few years since i needed childcare,my daughter is 11.i am a single mum and no trouble finding day care at all.i have worked partime many years and found along with other girls that i work with that many daycare centers put working parents before some other parents.i had my daughter in an occasional care center and it cost me roughly $30 a week,well 4 days at 6 hrs a day.i also was lucky enough to find a preschool 3 days a week with no problems.when she started school i went to family daycare and again no woories.i could be just lucky but i feel its worth looking around.you might not need long daycare which is more expensive so try occasional care.hope this was a least a bit helpful and good luck to all.

Anonymous

I have children ranging from 15 - 20mths and all have been in childcare. My first two I had to go back to work as 12wks and 10wks respectively and both went into Family Day Care. For us FDC is the best option. The care is more personalised, cost effective and flexible. My twins had 1 day per week FDC from 6mths but we have made the decision that their father has become a SAHD. The rising cost of childcare particularly for 2 under 2 definitely influenced this decision.

JOEY1969

I was a stay at home mum up until my children went to school. I think it was the best thing for me and my children. I adjusted my spending and made some cut backs to enable me to afford to stay at home. I am a firm believer in raising my own children. I dont believe they can get the best upbringing in childcare, no matter how good the centre is, but that is just my personal opinion. I know a lot wont agree with that, but thats their choice also. I have two wonderful girls who are well behaved, polite, eat exceptionally healthy food and are considerate to others. It was, and still is, a 24/7 job, but has been well worth it when you see the results.

brades71

A topic close to my heart! I placed my daughter in full time community childcare when she was 4-5 months old after returning to the workforce for financial reasons. I had 5 days to locate a suitable environment, and I researched all options within that time frame, but the biggest decision was made on availability. It was/is a great childcare, one particular carer was absolutely fantastic in the care of my daughter, and when we decided to remove her from the childcare at the end of last year, it was an emotional parting for all. I had complete confidence in this carer she would provide one on one, as well as group care to my daughter in a suitable environment. Since then, and after being a stay at home Mum with a toddler for 6 months, I returned to the workforce. This time it took me 4 weeks to locate suitable care, and I was lucky as we had placed her in a preschool 2 days a week from January. We were able to alter her attending days, and she still attends a lovely preschool in perth. For the remaining 3 days we were really struggling, and I was honestly wondering why there were no spaces available. Eventually, we located another 2 days at a junior-kindergarten where she now attends happily. The remaining day, my daughter spends with her cousins and my sister. Albiet, it is a juggle, but for my little girl, and as this has only been happening for a month, she has been adapting reallyy, really well. My plans did change as I started work part time until I could sort out the full time options we have come to above.
My tips for finding childcare, persistence, contact always help. If you really wish to your child to attend a particular child care over another, then call every week, even have your child put in for 1 day, and see if you can build it up over time, don't try and get 5 days all at once, especially if you can rely on family to assist for the short term.
Other key tips are location, cleanliness, check a child care by viewing on a non scheduled time, to see how they work with children outside of a scheduled visit. See what the toilets/change area are like, cleanliness and also products used. this also goes for food preparation if for older children. Compatibility with the carer. If you don't feel comfortable with a particular carer, then this will reflect onto you child, whether intentionally or not, but probably not the place for your child.
Children have to feel comfortable within their day environment to create as little stress as possible on transition, and change.

messersm

I work in childcare and we have vacancies. I know of a brand new centre that is virually vacant! This may not be any help to parents as it is in country Victoria. I put this question to parents "If it is an ABC learning centre does this influence your decision to go there?" What is the main problem with childcare? Fees? Location?Hours of operation?

Diva

I work in childcare and we have vacancies. I know of a brand new centre that is virually vacant! This may not be any help to parents as it is in country Victoria. I put this question to parents "If...

Hi all, any comments for 'messersm' above?

strybis

I have used family day care for nearly 9 years on and off and have never found any problem with finding a carer. I was doing shift work and I had a list of 5 ladies that I could call the day before to see if they had any vacanices and my children started care from 4 months of age. I like the idea of family day care as the kids are in a home environment with only 4 other children. You still get the child care rebate and only pay the reduced costs. I live on the Central Coast so maybe this is why I have never had any problems with care.
karen

Anonymous

I was determined to return to my position as an Office Manager after three months but you know what they say about best laid plans. I fell in love with my son on first sight and haven't looked back, it's been hard but after 6 months I took up Avon which helped get me out of the house and meeting people as well as a little extra cash and then also took on a night job which is helping pay the mortgage. I enjoy being home with my son all day but it is hard work, I really do believe you will achieve anything you put your mind to as long as you want it and go and get it. My only advice would be to make sure you also give yourself 'you' time, my day off is a movie day every second Sunday, my husband cares for y 18 month old whilst I go to a flick and make myself sick on popcorn and slushy. :-) It's better and cheaper than therapy. :-)

Anonymous

I became a single mum when my son was 3wks old, I went back to part-time work 2 days a week when he was 6months old, i was lucky to have a mum how could watch him for those 2 days but from the age of 3, i put him into child-care 1 of those 2 days, yes it did cost me but in the end i decided it was better for him as he learn how to bond and make friends with other children as he is a only child. It also made me a better mother in the long run cause I got to talk to other people not just sit at home with a child. I feel its better for child and parents to do what they feel is right for them.

Diva

Glad to hear your mum could help out. Does she live nearby?

NatZeg

I went back to work 2 days a week as a teacher in Feb and my 13 month old has been in child care since then (two ful days). I booked him in at the centre I wanted when I was only 12 weeks pregnant to ensure that he had a place. They were surprised that I booked him in so early but I now see that other people I know who waited until their child was almost one are finding it very difficult to get their child in on the days they want. I was able to have my pick of days. The only annoying thing is that I HAVE to still pay for him when I am on holidays even when I don't need to send him as he has a regular spot there two days a week, whereas my sister, who is a shift worker, can just book her daughter in whenever she wants and they are flexible to her needs so she only sends her when she absolutely needs to and can find other sources if necessary and then saves money! Is that equitable????

kez

We investigated child care extensively in our area (the Gold Coast), and were extremely happy to discover YMCA family day care. it is very reasonable, and means that our two year old goes to a private residence, there is only a maximum of 4 chuildren there at any one time, and he consequently gets excellant one on one care and attention. YMCA holds to all the usual child care standards and regulations. I strongly reccommend it for anyone seeking childcare. After only a few days, my two year old raced to her front door - it's like he's visiting a favourite Aunty or something!

kaz

I am currently on maternity leave with child number two. Number one has been in care for two - three days for over 18 months, When i first looked for care for 1 he was on waiting lists but in the same week was offered a palce in a centre & in family day care. We opted for Pre School. number two is going to family day care when i return to work in 4 months. The biggest issue is the lack of centres who take 0 - 2 yrs in our area. I have on gone for FDC as a mum started in my street & she is a trained pre school teacher

antzr

I'm a stay at home mum. Although there are quite a few places we could get into, they aren't places i would like my children to attend. The centres we are on a waiting list for have a waiting list for a reason. If and when i go back to work much of my pay would go on child care so right now it's better for us for me to stay at home and look after the kids. Ideally i would love partime work in school hours but these opportunities are limited in Far North QLD. My angst though is the longer i stay out of paid work the harder it will be to get back into it.

lisa1

I am mother of two (3 and 5 months). When I made recent enquiries re childcare I had no problems with placing only the cost. $$$$$ Talk about not worth going back to work. My hubbys on a decent wage which only entitles us to what they deem the minimum gov. discount even before added my potential earnings on top. But as I see it lower income earners get a higher discount but they still earn less so wouldn't it be the same cost vs take home as I would encounter? I have a freind who uses a home carer and says it is cheaper but I have a real issue with that as at least in a childcare centre you know the people working there and people do not have the liberty of coming and going. In a home environment who's to say who is visiting/living with that person (the carer themselves would obviously, I hope, be safe and decent) but hey that JOBlow they are freinds with/relateed to could be a psycho or pedophile. Anyway so ruling out childcare I still have the option of working from home or casual/part time aroung my husbands roster (lots of days off) but this seams an impossible option to source. Seems to me that women have to choose between career and family??????????????

Trendy

I haven't yet researched availability, but I keep hearing how expensive it is! When I return to work, I plan to do night shift, I won't get much sleep, but, sadly the cost factor is a huge consideration. I'm lucky enough to have a mum who's willing to help us as well as a very accommodating neighbour if an emergency were to arise. Perhaps mum's could use the help of their mother's group and tke it in turns?

Rachel

I am at home with my 6 mth old now, and am fortunate enough to have figured out a family option for when I return 3 days a week later this year. When looking into long daycare options, however, I was very surprised at the cost, and waiting lists, in the city (where I work). Given the difficulty I'd already have leaving my job early, not to mention the often gridlocked Sydney traffic, I can't see how I could expect to use a centre near my home (30-90 minutes drive away), where lateness is charged by the minute - and yet the govt claims there are plenty of places, as long as we're willing to stay in the burbs. It's just not possible for my kind of work.

Anonymous

I live in a small seaside town in WA. There is only one child care facility in town and it is very small. I was told by everyone that it would be very hard to get a place for my son, but as I started him at the beginning of the year it ended up being ok because they had a lots of children moving from the bubs room to the toddler room. I suspect this might be the case across the board. Yes it is expensive - $55 a day - but my husband works overseas for 2 months at a time and I have no family in town. So I made a decision to put him in day care for one day a week when he turned one. Otherwise I would go crazy with no break 24/7. I have thought about going back to work but I have found that my boy gets sick alot in winter, and that child care makes it worse (catch 22). I am worried that if he went to day care full time he would be constantly sick and I would be constantly taking days off. It's a difficult situation. But as a professional woman I find that there is a huge amount of pressure on me to return to the workforce.

LifesForFun

We took the concern out of having to find childcare by importing an "au pair" girl from OS. There are several websites you can browse which are big databases of young girls (and guys) looking for an overseas posting for differing periods of time. An "au pair" will mind your child(ren) in exchange for full board and accomm and some pocket money. It's well cheaper than paying a local and lots of fun too. We chose carefully and scored a lovely 21-yr old French girl who'd had previous experience with little children and we've been really happy with her. The au pair gets the chance to live in another country (comfortably) and become fluent in English (in this instance). Of course for it to work you've got to be prepared to have another person share your home. We never found it to be a problem. It was interesting for us and she soon fitted in very well and has been like one of the family and our son loves her. Sadly after 9 months she is leaving and another one will take her place - for 12-14 months this time! Wish us luck with another winner.

Rachel

I am at home with my 6 mth old now, and am fortunate enough to have figured out a family option for when I return 3 days a week later this year. When looking into long daycare options, however, I was very surprised at the cost, and waiting lists, in the city (where I work). Given the difficulty I'd already have leaving my job early, not to mention the often gridlocked Sydney traffic, I can't see how I could expect to use a centre near my home (30-90 minutes drive away), where lateness is charged by the minute - and yet the govt claims there are plenty of places, as long as we're willing to stay in the burbs. It's just not possible for my kind of work.

lis

i am a part time worker and have been lucky enough to have family minding my child one of the days i work. the other day my child is in a very good long day care centre which i travel 25 minutes to get to, my child was booked into this centre even before he was born and began at twelve months. Depending on family income centrelink does subsidise care to eligible families through child care benefit and i think this sets the fees at between $12.00 up to around $50.00 (which is the rate you would pay in this area if you didn't receive subsidy). i believe that the centre often has a waiting list for baby spaces as it is the only centre in the area that cares for babies (under two's). It pays to look into it before the child is born and put in an intent to enrol form, then if a space comes up you could be lucky (and you can always decline the spot if you have changed your mind). In our area there is also a very good family day care system although i haven't had personal experience yet, i enquired when my baby was a few months old and they had no places at that stage either.

stilly

Hi there. I am one of these lucky mums that have stayed at home for my children and ahd the pleasure of caring for other peoples children as a homebased educator. A hugely responsilbe and rewarding job. There is a shortage of us and so much work to be had. I chose not to go back to my trade as a chef but reaise this i not a choice for every mum to stay at home.
People who find the right person for their children so they can return to work are very fortunate and I am a strong believer that homebesed is a better choice for children so they get more 1 on1 and a fill in mother figure to nutre those really important early years.

mummy21

Well, I'm a stay at home mum, and I have a small business at home that I use the internet for, so babysitting isn't a problem unless myself and my partner go out somewhere. If we need to go out, I can usually rely on my mother in law.

Sonet

I am a full time stay at home mum and I love it....but have for the past 5 months put my daughter in child care for 1 day a week. I thought that it was going to break us financially but my 2.5 year old daughter loves it and she has bloomed so much that we make a few financial sacrifices and it really doesn't cost us that much more per month.

Ofcourse we would love it if it cost a little less, but I still think that we are very fortunate in Australia to have some funding for childcare from the Government.

I found care rather quickly and was surprised that the local child care centre had vacancies. I did go through a stage where I only wanted my daughter in the "more popular-named" places, but then they had months of waiting lists. And lets face it some of the staff at the "more popular-named" places, really wasn't very warm or friendly towards me or my daughter - so it just goes to show.....not every popular place will have the best service!!

Ez

I am a stay at home mum, like everyone else unfortunatally will have to return to work within a few months due to financial reasons, I have to admit i have not looked deeply into childcare , but have heard there is a shortage and the cost is very high(depending on the suburb) i dont want my child in childcare for the simple reasons of cost and missing those once in a life time milestones. My mum has offered to look after my son for two days a week which is a blessing, so its just a matter of finding a part time job

HUMMINGBIRD

I'M A STAY AT HOME MUM AND HAVE BEEN FOR 2 YEARS. WE DID THE SUMS AND WE WOULD BE NO BETTER OF FINACIALLY IN ME RETURNING TO WORK 2 OR 3 DAYS A WEEK. WITH THE COST OF CHILDCARE AND OTHER EXPENSES IT WAS BETTER FOR ME LOOK AFTER MY OWN DAUGHHTER AND AT LEAST I KNOW SHE HAS THE BEST CARE.

mermaidsinc

Hi, I had 2 children 17 months apart (now 3 and 5) and I went back to work 4 days a week when each of them were 9 months old. We started them in Family Day Care which was superb, I can't recommend it enough, then moved them to centres when they hit 2. I was lucky to get places as I needed them but my tactic was to put names down as soon as they were born as all the centres in my area (inner sydney) have 2 year waiting lists. It is pretty expensive, but it's worth it for me as I'm not the stay at home mum type (to quote Dr Phil - if've you've got a racehorse, you've got to let it run), although I can see the benefits of not working especially when I'm trying to get out of the door in the morning!!

Curley

I am currently a stay at home considering going back to work. I am unable to justify the cost of putting two children into day care. The biggest struggle apart fro the cost is the fact that all the places I have contacted state it is a minimum two days per week. Therefore I won't go back. The older needs to attend preschool which will help her develop ready for school away from mummy, however, the concern with this is there is a huge lack of community preschools and the ones which exist have waiting lists.
Family is the best option I have found!!(if you are lucky like me to have this support)

stubbornmumma

I am a stay at home mum, but not by choice. I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter and a 20 month old son and i would love to go back to work as a nurse, which this country so badly needs. However the cost of childcare in my area just makes this impossible. As a single mum the only thing i would be working for would be to pay childcare fees. Most of the centres around my area cost upwards of $40 per day for long day care and with two children that cost would be astronomical. Something that is just not feasable on a sole parent pension from the government. Having looked at family helping me out, even that is not possible as all my family work, including my parents. If anyone knows of any family day care or how to get in contact with any it would be very much appreciated if you could post a reply with some information.

none

I do family day care , the reason it is cheaper is that is done in the home and the parents supply the snacks and meals for their children. that makes a big differance. I think the kids are loved as i treat them as the grandchildren that i don' havet

none

I am a stay at home mum, but not by choice. I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter and a 20 month old son and i would love to go back to work as a nurse, which this country so badly needs. However the...

Hi there - this was a message from Rosie80 for you. Hope it helps.

'This is for Stubbornmumma. You said you wanted the number for Family Daycare. Well here is the number for Penrith/St Marys Family Daycare. It is 9623 9199. They should be able to help you.'

Anonymous

I am a married mother of 2 children (daughter 4yrs & son 1yr old), I was going to go back to work this year full time until i found out that my daughter wouldn't be starting prep this year (september birthday), So I priced childcare & boy did i get a hell of a shock, it was going to cost me upwards of $550+ per week (and that doesn't include their lunches or nappies) by the time I purchase the food that the childcare "allow's" my children to eat and nappies it would be an additional $150 per week on top of the $550 so that worked out at approx $700+ per week. My projected wage per week was only going to be approx $520 in the hand after tax so i was going to be out of pocket by going to work full time for $180 not including the travel expenses for me to drive to work & parking in brisbane. Instead I work 15hrs per week (3hrs per day Mon - Fri) I get paid $44 per day (in the hand) and i pay a baby sitter $20 each day to baby sit for me. so all in all i am working 3hrs a day for $24 but at least it is something considering i dont get a cent from centrelink due to hubby's wage.

Centrelink has the childcare system so stuffed up, they want mothers to go back to work & then pay full price for childcare, while single no working parents get their childcare for next to nothing, how is this meant to be a fair system. THERE ARE NO REAL INCENTIVES FOR FAMILIES WITH 2 WORKING PARENTS TO ACTUALLY BOTH BE WORKING AS ONE WAGE ALONE GOES TO CHILDCARE WHAT IS THE POINT. WORKING FULLTIME TO HAVE SOMEONE ELSE BE PAID TO RAISE YOUR CHILDREN SO THAT YOU CAN WORK & BE WORSE OFF FINANCIALLY.....

none

I am a stay at home mum, but not by choice. I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter and a 20 month old son and i would love to go back to work as a nurse, which this country so badly needs. However the...

It's a very expensive business havgin kids. Especially when we get very little finanical support from the government

shannant

I'm a SAHM for 2 babes (14mo & 2mo). By the time I paid for child care and lost FTB there'd be no financial reason for me to work full time. I do some casual work at my old place of employment but otherwise have decided to stay at home until both kids are at school. Financially it's a bit of a struggle but I strongly believe that they're little for such a short amount of time that I want to stay at home and enjoy it. I know that not everyone has the luxury of staying at home, but the thought of leaving either of them in child care brings tears to my eyes.

ntpard

With my youngest nearly four, I would be very interested in being involved in some work just as a change of scenery and to help with our family's income. We have not long moved to Canberra and the cost of childcare is the highest in Australia whcih has put it out of reach for us as I would need to be working fulltime on a pretty good wage of rus to even start to benefit financially from me going to work. How do they expect mothers to be involved more inthe community and workplace if the limited positions and options that are in place are not easily accesible, financially and literally.

stina

I was working for a chod care centre and had my son in at thesame dc. That makes life easier you say?? No way - I was charged the same as everyone else and was basically working at that dc to pay my day care bill!!! And when I left they asked me to take my son with me, which I thought was a little bit unfair as he had all his friends their. When they asked me to stop bringing him they didn't give me two weeks like they're supposed to but 2 hours instead!!! Sometimes I think I'd be better off at as a stay at home parent

princess73

When I was pregnant with my baby girl charlize I thought Id get in early for chilcare as I was told they book up fast and at that stage we thought Id be only off for 6 months as my work wouldnt give me any extra time off, I booked an appointment to go and see a childcare centre, I was only about 4 months pregnant is was a lovely place and we asked for a placement for january of this year, they said they would be ringing me in the september after she was born and I never heard from them again!!! Why should I have to chase them when they offered us a place to begin with. I ended up staying at home and am loving it but next year want to put charlize into a childcare part time, why are childcare establishment statistics saying that there are loads of placements available when you as a parent get a different story when trying to enrol your child.

Debbie

I work 2 days a week and have 2 kids in childcare boy 4 and girl 2. I live in Western Sydney, and I'm looking for a childcare centre closer to home, my area has not got a shortage in fact I can pick which centre I want and what days as most of them have spaces for everyday. Childcare is costly and I do agree that what I earn is basically paying for childcare and not much else in my pocket. But I feel I need to be at work to stop me going crazy and need some me time, that is why 2 days at work is good for me. Childcare is also good for my kids it is teaching them to separate from me and play with other kids and toys.

Night Goddess

I am mostly a SAHM. I choose not to use commercial childcare and find the idea frankly abhorrent. I realise my situation is a very fortunate one. I am able to work 12 hours a week with the care of my toddler being shared between grandmothers and my husband.
We believe in attachment parenting so childcare does not work for us.

RedGecko

If you have to return to work in a high powered role or keep running your own business - GET A NANNY - even if its only for a day a week. Your stress level will drop considerably as you will be able to confidently arrange meetings and vital activities knowing that you will be able to make them. I didn't but it would have ended up cheaper than the days and days of lost income and unused but still had to be paid for childcare fees.
We had a fabulous experience at our local creche and creched kids do seem to settle into school more easlily. But between the fees and the decrease in Centrelink benefits we would have been better off if I hadn't worked. However as a small business owner I really had no choice.
When looking at childcare centres, ask how long the staff have been there - low turn over means both happy staff and centre and less dislocation for your child/ren. In Victoria ask if there is a kinder program at long day care centres - means that your precious days off are not taken over by the annoying disjointedness of arranging your day around an hour and half programs.
My youngest started school this year so the aftercare bill is $230 per fortnight, about a third of the creche fees - I feel rich!

tanya

I am a childcare worker and at the momnet there is lots of space in our centre but just in the next town there is a waiting list. As petrol costs go up we as parents are finding it hard to drive to the next town just for care. Everytime we get more rebates the centres put up there rates and were back to square one. If you are willing to travel a bit further you will find spaces but if you cant then try family care or relatives or even a trusted friend.

Ali

I have chosen to be a stay at home mum. My eldest does attend a Preschool with long day care hours twice a week at a cost of $45 a day in preparation for BIG SCHOOL next year. With two children and another one coming I would not be able to earn enough money to put all my children in childcare.
I have some tips for people who are finding it hard to get a place, they come from preschool and day care centre managers:- take a Monday or Friday spot, they are not as popular because people try to have a long weekend if they work part time. Once you are on a wait-list call once in a while to see how you are progressing, this shows you are still interested and if you happen to call when a spot has come free they will offer it to you instead of going through the list. That is how I got my spot!

cath

I have to agree with Sim-one I did some research and the childcare centre's are so expensive and the rebate (even if you get one) is hardly worth anything at all. So I also chose to stay at home with my little boy and keep our budget on track . I'm lucky enough to work from home now after alot of begging. If childcare was more flexable and there rebates more accomodating I'm sure that we would us it more often.

Fi

I'm a stay @ home mum. I have 5 kids, 7 years to 4 months (3 @ home full-time). Our two at school had one day at pre-school a week the year before they attended school. Our son now 5 & in Kindy asked to quit pre-school half way through the year. When I asked why he said "It's boring and I do more with you at home."

I think a lot of us need pre-school/education for our kids not so much day care as we are able to do that on the days we spend with them & in a lot of cases the children just have supervised play time at day care. That's why they like it - they get to do what ever they like for the day... I'd like that too!!!

The cost when on one wage with 5 children is also a huge factor in determining how often our children attend care. We have no family with in 6 hours drive. I would like to study/re-train the year before our youngest goes to school, but won't be able to afford care three or more days a week, so it will be put off until he starts school in 5 years time.

nique

my husband and I have two children and when I was in my second trimester with my first born, I booked her in to child care and she was then secured a place when she started at 6 month of age.

I have since put an application at the day care she attends now for my second daughter who I plan to start in Feb next year, a couple of weeks before I go back to work. I haven't heard back about my application yet, but I believe her name has been entered on a database at the centre and we will know soon enough if she's been accepted.

My only real advice to people is not to be too fussy about where the centre is, just because it may not be in an area where you'd prefer your child to go (providing it isn't too far from home, but just the next suburb over) it doesn't mean the standard of care is going to be different. Make the time to chat to the local centre director and ask for a tour, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Lady T

My problem wasnt finding childcare. Maybe because i only have the one child and i had his name down really early on. But what i find a struggle are the childcare fees. Its just too expensive. Its not worth it for me to do more days because a good chunk of my pay goes to the childcare.

KG

I am currently on maternity leave with my 4 month old daughter. My 2 year old is in child care and it was not too difficult to find when I first moved here last year.I live about 15kms out of the city. I tried to find a childcare centre close to where I work in the city and was told there was up to 2 year waiting lists at one place. But when I moved out of the inner city suburbs the places became easier to find. She is very happy and I have decided to keep her in their while I am on leave to give me some time with the baby but also because she is so happy and excited to go to childcare. It is going to be a lot more difficult when their are two though. We are still trying to work out how we are going to do as we can not afford for me to stay at home. I am delaying a return to work as much as is possible though.

maryanne

I want to be a stay at home mum (and currently am) however financially it is becoming too difficult. I am lucky that my mum will look after my 6 month old if I go back to work but i think that the benefits for him if I stay at home are huge. I wish the govt. would provide more support so that more people coud stay at home

pink-bobble

Oh my goodness!!! I am so incredibly jealous of the low fees all of you seem to be paying! I am a mum to a nearly 2 year old and putting her in long day care for 3 days a week costs me just under $200 a week. And that's with CCB!!!! She is in a local council nursery which she adores and I am really happy with - it's also the cheapest option in our local area by a very long way. For me, I come out ahead in terms of take home pay (i know, i am very lucky) and I get a chance to keep my head busy and learning still while catching up on everything at home too. We don't have family nearby and all our friends have their own littlies to look out for so we don't have a network to fall back on.
Much as I am happy we have good day care, I would love it to be cheaper and accessible for everyone who needs it. I struggled to find our place and it came down to luck in the end i think. A lot of other families in the area struggle hugely and are ending up either doing part time work when they really need full time or travelling hugely out of their way to get to the day care.
North Shore in Sydney is a tough place for child care needs right now.

none

I am a stay at home mum, but not by choice. I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter and a 20 month old son and i would love to go back to work as a nurse, which this country so badly needs. However the...

Ouch!

Anonymous

I am a stay at home mum, but not by choice. I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter and a 20 month old son and i would love to go back to work as a nurse, which this country so badly needs. However the...

I pay $252 a week to put my child in day care. I have calculated it costs more for day care than private high school.

joblue1

I am a stay at home mum, but not by choice. I have a 3 1/2 year old daughter and a 20 month old son and i would love to go back to work as a nurse, which this country so badly needs. However the...

We pay $500 a fortnight for 2 children in a Child care centre for 2 days (long stay)

joblue1

Oh my goodness!!! I am so incredibly jealous of the low fees all of you seem to be paying! I am a mum to a nearly 2 year old and putting her in long day care for 3 days a week costs me just under...

Anyone else out there paying these type of rates?

maryann7259

I have been a Family Day Care mum for about 3 and a half years. Currently I care for 11 children, no not all at once. I am able to have 4 under school age children at once (including my own child). Currently I have no under school age spaces and already have had a number of requests for next year. When I started Family Day Care I did not have any children of my own but now have a son who has just turned two (yippee temper tantrums). I always dreamed to work in childcare but did not like the idea of the theory side of having to gain a childcare certificate. With Family Day Care I found that I was not required to have a qualification in childcare, however I did need to complete a First Aid Course and am always completing other training which does not involve much theory work. After being made redundant in my office position I decided to fulfill my dream of working in childcare when I heard about Family Day Care. Family Day Care mums are needed almost everywhere. Family Day Care is different to a child care centre in the way that age groups are mixed and carers can take children on a number of outings a week provided it benefits children (e.g. to library or playgroup). In a lot of places Family Day Care is cheaper than a child care centre. I have found that by being able to work and look after my son at the same time, I am not missing out on his milestones and he gets to mix with other children (sometimes learning good and bad things from them). I do agree that it is good to have a break though from child/ren which is why my son goes to my parents for half or a full day on weekends. This allows me to catch up on housework that the fairies won't come and do. The main disadvantage I have found with being a Family Day Care mum is that a lot of people are put off doing F.D.C. because of the paperwork involved. A lot of the paperwork is needed for legal reasons though. I try to get a lot of my paperwork done when the children go down for a sleep.

Charli_girl

I'm lucky enough to be able to work shift work close to home. so, that means i start work at 6pm (once a week at the moment) and get home at 2.30am... does mean that i feel shocking the next day, with a 7am start (when 8mo son wakes), especially when i generally don't get to sleep until after 3am. i was going to work from home, but sooooo difficult to do, especially as it is phone-based work. it just doesn't sound professional with a baby crying in the background!

we are getting an au pair in about 6 weeks time. not too expensive, gives me some support (no family within a 3 hour flight of us) and another person nearby.

i guess we'll see how things pan out.

Mandi Mangle

Both my husband and I work. We would love to put our two youngest children (4 years & 18 months) into daycare, moreso the older one so she is able to play with children of her own age. Instead we have to rely on my parents to look after them because daycare is so expensive. Even at a minimum of $55 per day per child .. it soon adds up and with the cost of living in Sydney (and renting) on the rise, it's just not financially feasible. Not to mention the time factor of dropping them off, picking them up (having to fight the traffic to ensure you're there before the cutoff time or you'll be charged penalties!). To put a child in daycare in the CBD, it would cost me around $90 per day! At that cost I may as well stay at home and live off one income and struggle. Back in NZ there are numerous, cheap, safe options for your children which they could quite readily implement here in Sydney. But in the meantime, the pro of this is that my children get to spend quality time with my parents and my parents earn extra cash for themselves.

nomad

Oh my goodness!!! I am so incredibly jealous of the low fees all of you seem to be paying! I am a mum to a nearly 2 year old and putting her in long day care for 3 days a week costs me just under...

I get my mother in law too watch our two children Monday to Thursday and they are in Child care on Fridays. This works as then my monther in law can take our eldest too and pick up from Kindy for me on Monday and tuesday afternoons, as I'm at work by the time she is due at Kindy. On wednesday and thursdays I can take her and pick her up and then go to work as I work afternoons on these days and she goes in the mornings. it is also helpful that my monther in law doesn't work or I wouldn't have been able to afford to go back to work at all. We just manage to afford to put them in for 1 whole day a week. The CCB is a great help but to put them in more days a week we would struggle, I would love too just to give my mother in law a break on another day but we just can't afford it.

diamonds

Oh my goodness!!! I am so incredibly jealous of the low fees all of you seem to be paying! I am a mum to a nearly 2 year old and putting her in long day care for 3 days a week costs me just under...

I'm another mum who leaves my son with my parents while i go to work part-time during the week.
I'm a christian, so not having a christian day care around is pretty much a no for me. But the idea of having home groups and the like is quite a neat idea as they are very flexible and it's most likely with people you can trust leaving your chil/ren with and vice versa.

joblue1

Oh my goodness!!! I am so incredibly jealous of the low fees all of you seem to be paying! I am a mum to a nearly 2 year old and putting her in long day care for 3 days a week costs me just under...

We don't have the option, we have no family here. I probly wouldn't ask anyway as i don't think it's fair on our parents, we're getting older and get tired quicker. I'm sure they would do it, but it's alot to ask someone to mind 2-3 year olds when your about 70.

Em

Oh my goodness!!! I am so incredibly jealous of the low fees all of you seem to be paying! I am a mum to a nearly 2 year old and putting her in long day care for 3 days a week costs me just under...

Yes - my mum lives over an hour away, but she looks after the baby one day a week and has done for about 6 months. This is great for me (and she loves spending time with her granddaughter too). However, things would have to change if there was another baby or if one of my sisters had a baby.

Em

Both my husband and I work. We would love to put our two youngest children (4 years & 18 months) into daycare, moreso the older one so she is able to play with children of her own age. Instead we...

Who else is asking their parents to care for their children duirng the day instead of using childcare centres/family day care?

kellahan

I am a single mum with 2 girls aged 4 1/2 and 2 1/2. I recently moved to a different suburb and am shocked at the price difference. Both my girls were going to daycare centre, where the eldest was doing the kindy programme. It was costing me around $80 odd a week for 3 days for both the girls, including the kindy programme. Where i live now, my eldest goes to a Kindy at the local primary school, and all it costs is $30 for a WHOLE TERM!!! I am yet to find a spot in daycare for the youngest as all the centres near me are full up. I can't believe the difference. The kindy programme at the daycare centre alone, was costing $20 a WEEK. That was a huge strain on the pocket of a single mum who is not yet back working good hours.

Age

I am a stay at home mum with a 2 1/2 yr old and 9 mth old. I have my 2 1/2 yr old in long daycare one day a week to give me time to do any errands I have to do on that day or just spend some quality time with my 9 mth old. I put my name down 1 year prior to her starting, but I was lucky as the daycare facility (which is private) were building a second facility so I feel very blessed to have been at the right place at the right time as I know how hard it is for some families to get there children into care. My daughter loves her one day a week and I have found it invaluable.

sharon.nz

I think in NZ we are lucky to have an abundance of childcare options to consider in our city centres anyway. I have been lucky enough to only ever work part-time when my children were pre-school age and because both my husband and I were shift workers we were able to negotiate me working the opposite shift from him the 2 days a week I worked so we didn't have to have our children in care. This was a great solution for me as although I believe we do have good services here I was reluctant to use them due to a) the cost and b) it is not the environment I wanted for my children. Now they are older I am able to negotiate with friends to share the care, I pick up their kids some days and they pick up mine on others. The hoiday programme variety here is also great and my son loves attending them as it is such a novelty for him as he has never had paid care before - he is 9 years old.

Sharon NZ

miriam

I am a single mother with a 7month old son. I am currently on unpaid maternity leave but the reality of returning to full time work is just not a viable possibility with an unsettled baby and lack of sleep etc. I already have my son in childcare 3 times a week as I am working casually and was very lucky to get a place straight away with a new centre opening up whilst i was pregnant close to home. The cost even after the CCB is hard to manage but my casual work allows me that opportunity. He has been in care since 8 weeks of age and he loves it. I felt guilty at first but it does give me the chance to "stay in touch" with work and even though full time is a long way off maybe in a few years I will tackle that hurdle when we both sleep better and i know i will be able to give work 100%!!!

marijo2379

Hi I am a mum of a 6 month old baby boy, It was really hard for me to find a child care because there are no many for babies and the waiting list that some of them have are incredibly long. I hope in the future the number of childcares for babies will increase as well as help from the government because the fees that parents have to pay is really expensive.

Modnoc

I initially had little luck finding childcare when I was first preganat and everyone said put your name down. Hhowever when it really came time to find a spot I was able to get one quite easily. I find the older the child the easier it is to find childcare, small babies that need more attention and the ratio of staff to children is higher seems to be the area of greatest shortage.
My tip is look around and find a centre that you feel comfortable in, don't settle for close to home if you don't like it, because you will feel uneasy when you take your kids there. Stay focused and keep in contact throughout your pregnancy and once you have had your child so the centre know you are keen and will take a spot when it becaomes available even if it is a bit earlier than you need.

Liza

I just emigrated to this country from NZ in Jan '07. I visitied a local ABC centre and found it to be very friendly and welcoming. She was able to be enrolled for two days a week, which suited me, and they seem to take good care of her. I am now five months pregnant with the next child (the 6month old is now 1 year) and when I asked to book the one year old in for a day during Septmember so that my husband and I can go to hospital together to have the baby, they have already agreed to this and have arranged it for me, taking out any stress I would have. As I have no family here to help with child support during this time, I really appreciate what ABC have done for me. The fees are very reasonable too, compared with NZ and UK.

lizzied

The cost of childcare in Noosa means that I would end up paying more to send my son to go to care that I would earn for the day! Not to mention the fact that the waiting lists ar so long that to get in you often have to put your name down as soon as you discover you're pregnant...

Anonymous

Both my husband and I work. We would love to put our two youngest children (4 years & 18 months) into daycare, moreso the older one so she is able to play with children of her own age. Instead we...

My sister found out she was pregnant in december and had to put her child on a list and she had a healthy baby girl in august and still hasn't got a place for her! i have ahd my two year old son on a list for the last 3 months and it is not getting any better and i am a full time student so there should be more centres out the i think.

joblue1

Both my husband and I work. We would love to put our two youngest children (4 years & 18 months) into daycare, moreso the older one so she is able to play with children of her own age. Instead we...

Yes, all 3 children and we not sure if we have a place as yet for the 3rd child as yet

joblue1

The cost of childcare in Noosa means that I would end up paying more to send my son to go to care that I would earn for the day! Not to mention the fact that the waiting lists ar so long that to...

Who else had to put down their name on childcare lists as soon as they found out they were pregnant?

cruz

I am a mother of three young boys. Fortunately i did not struggle to find placings for pre-school. Although, I am appalled at how the childcare system operates. I have two friends who are stay at home mums who chose to send their children not to preschool - but to daycare as it afforded them the opportunity to drop off earlier and pick up later so they could do whatever they wanted. Shouldn't daycare be prioritesed to working mothers who actually need the extended hours. I am a stay at home mother and I would never think that it was my right for my child to take a placing of another child of a working mother.

Bereft Skerrick

As a mum who never wanted to use childcare, when my circumstances changed and Mr18Mths first attended, he loved it, and eventually begged to be sent more often! He spent the majority of that 18mths just with me or hubby, and I found that comparing him to his brother, who started daycare at 6mths that the elder one had better spech development as he'd spent more time with adults.

It's a bigger problem to decide when to send a June baby to Big School in my household!

redchelley

Currently only my 2 and a hald yr old daughter goes to creche 2 days a week, and we are still tossing up the idea of putting our youngest in for maybe a day, we had trouble getting a spot to start of with but now there is lots of places and centers around. I am a stay at home mum as it is not currently worth it to work as i'll be working just to pay the creche

Mel

I work 4 days per week, and have a wonderful Family Day care mum. My beautiful 14 month old son has been attending Family Day Care since he was 4 months old. He absolutely loves her, her whole family has made him so welcome, he thinks of it as his second home. We are in the unusual position where we are much better off with me working. My job is full time, but I am able to work part-time until he turns 2, perhaps longer with negotiation. We use the Governments Child Care Benefit to help reduce fees. I also have a 14 year old who went to Day Care as well. The cost back then was harder to deal with. We are much better off today. Given the choice though, I would gladly stay home to watch my beautiful son all day.

anners

I am a stay at home mum with 2 kids. I work one night a week (my husband careds for the kids) and I go to uni. Both boys go to childcare one day a week while I am at uni. I haven't ever had a problem getting a place for them but do find it incredibly expensive considering I am studying not working and earning a full time wage. Sometimes I question the worth of further education for mums, it is demanding and a struggle when u have young children. I have to hope it will be worth it in the long term!

MellissaD

I am a stay-at-home-Mum and have no plans to go back to work as yet. I will perhaps consider some part-time work once my son is in school, but my husband and I would prefer there was always one of us home with our boy. We are very lucky in that we have close family and friends here who are more than happy to look after our son if we wish to go out by ourselves, and I know that if I ever did decide to go back to work, my own mother would be more than happy to take care of her grandson - but we would insist on paying her for it.

gabba79

I am a single mum to a 15month old and my daughter has just started day care for 2 days a week. I was surprised at how many places were available i could take my pick from every day care centre I looked at which i was very surprised at. I work while she is in day care and I pay $34 dollars for the two days which I am very lucky to be paying. But I don't have family here in Toowoomba so it was the best thing for me to do!!!

LizzyC

My daughter is 6 now and in her second year of school. Back in 2002 when I decided to return to work, all I kept hearing about was the childcare shortage. Well I found there was no shortage as long as you're prepared to pay. The more affordable centres run by the local councils were all full (even though I put my name down on the list when I was 6 weeks pregnant). I work at my local council but still didn't get in. Then there's the question of is it worth going back to work if you have to pay so much? My tip is perservere and look into alternatives like family day care if its available in your area, you might strike it lucky and find a second family!

Marnster

I have a 11mth old son, and I work 2 days per week, and rely on my mum for childcare. I wasn't happy with the ratio of carers to babies at the centres I looked at, and feel extremely lucky that the opportunity with my mum came along, as I enjoy working. The government really needs to look into this - there are so many mums who would love to work but cant afford to. We have a skills shortage in so many areas, and mums are a really valuable part of the workforce. Childcare should be tax deductable.

Em

I was realy lucky, i had arranged childcare at a centre in Brisbane a month before i went back to work so my daughter could settle in slowly. Unfortunatly the centre i had chosen was not ok, they put her to bed wet from another child tipping water all over her and didnt give her, her dummy so she screemed herself to sleep after about 40mins. Other events happened to cause me to pull my daughter froom there. This left me with only 1 week to find placement for specific days... I ended up ringing about 30 places and in the end rang ABC, they took great care of me. They rang all the other centres in my area and found one that had my days available, i had both good and bad things from this very large group of centres but when i took my daughter in i felt instanly at ease, the rooms smelled fresh ( hard when so many nappie changes occur during the day...) and all the workers were actually happy to be there with the children, so what started as a difficult child care journey has worked out great.

petros29

Hi, I have a 4mth old girl. Due to go back to work next January and had to book a place at child care last year before my daughter was born to secure a place! Would rather not go back to work, but have to financially. The care is quite expensive at $60 per day but I am happy with the centre and staff and that is worth the piece of mind.

Alicia

I am a child care worker, as well as a new mum. Child care places can be hard to find in good centes, when you know what to look for. They are usually the centres that are all full. The best thing to do, is as soon as you find out you are pregnant, put your babies name down at as many centres as you can. That way when the time comes to find care, the centres will have you down. Babies rooms are the hardest to get into, due to the child/adult ratio, you can only have 8 babies per room, plus a babies room runs at a loss due to the numbers. Centres only make money in the older aged rooms. Centres are not keen to have babies rooms because of that. personally I am not looking forward to putting my baby in care, as I will miss his milestones. I want to see it al myself, not be told he has done something by a stranger. I also don't have other family support, so when the time comes to return to work, I don't have any other option. All I an suggest is try and be as organised as possible, before you are thinking of returning. That way your chances of a place are higher.

Starfish5

I work part time and have always had my children in long day care since they were babies - they are now in for 3 days to fit in with my new part time role - but have been in up to 5 days when I was working full time. We are a high income household and have to pay a much larger fee for childcare than lower incomes. We don't get the same benefits as lower income families do - which means we don't see the benefits of my income - my wage pays for the childcare, with very little left over for household contribution. For my own self esteem, it would be nice to feel I was contributing to the household pot and achieving something for myself - instead I feel we're being penalised for working too hard and earning too much.

Tasha

My son is 12 weeks old. If I return to work I need to find fulltime employement with an above average wage. By the time we pay daycare fee's we are $100.00 better off a week. I will miss all the milestones and achievements my son makes. They want us as skilled people to return to the workforce. With out helping us out. I will be staying at home and enjoying the time with my son and family.

ral

The cost of childcare in Noosa means that I would end up paying more to send my son to go to care that I would earn for the day! Not to mention the fact that the waiting lists ar so long that to...

I had a prem baby 6 months ago. She has only been home for 2 months and still requires extra attention (home oxygen). She should be only 2 months old. I had originally planned and budgeted to only take 6 months off work. But with her special requirements and ongoing hospital appointments and a surpressed immune system, I need to do what is best for her. I also feel that I am the best qualified to care for her. With no family in the area, my only other option would be Family Day Care (less exposure to runny noses etc). But there are only 4 Day Care Mums in a 50km radius from me, and they are all permanently full. My boss is putting pressure on me to return to work (as my temp replacement isn't working out well). I want the adult contact again that is not medically related. And with a mortgage I could do with the extra money.

I am looking at becoming a Family Day Care Mum myself, maybe. There is a shortage of that type of care around here. But there are plenty of spaces at centres.

rosey80

The cost of childcare in Noosa means that I would end up paying more to send my son to go to care that I would earn for the day! Not to mention the fact that the waiting lists ar so long that to...

This is for Stubbornmumma. You said you wanted the number for Family Daycare. Well here is the number for Penrith/St Marys Family Daycare. It is 9623 9199. They should be able to help you.

stina

The cost of childcare in Noosa means that I would end up paying more to send my son to go to care that I would earn for the day! Not to mention the fact that the waiting lists ar so long that to...

I want to see my child grow up and watch him at sports carnivals and assemblies but the government makes it very difficult. I agree that child care should be tax deductible in order for us to go back to work. I earn less than $250 a week as I work in the child care industry and out of that $175 goes on daycare fees because we're not eligible for a very high amount so at the end of the week I'm left with $75 dollars if I'm really lucky. My fiance and I have a car, mortgage, credit card and various other bills to pay off as well as try and pay for a wedding and at the end of the day I feel like I'm going to tear my hair out because there's just not enough help for everyday, middle of the road families like mine

ErinM

The cost of childcare in Noosa means that I would end up paying more to send my son to go to care that I would earn for the day! Not to mention the fact that the waiting lists ar so long that to...

I'd like to go back to work eventually for the personal achievements and social interaction as well as the money, but will definitely be going back for the cash a lot earlier than I'd like if circumstances were different. Furthermore, as my daughter was born 3 months premature we are trying to book her in for family day care to limit her chances of catching infections from the larger number of kids in normal childcare. But in comparison to the 22 month waiting period for normal childcare, I'm told you can't book family day care until only a month before you need it. Either way we're left in a difficult situation.

heymama

The cost of childcare in Noosa means that I would end up paying more to send my son to go to care that I would earn for the day! Not to mention the fact that the waiting lists ar so long that to...

Childcare that is used for a parent to produce income should be fully tax deductible. If a mobile phone, car park fees, laptop computer etc are, then childcare is absolutely no different. Get someone with a bit of commonsence advising the government on what's important. Childcare and family tax rebates, if you are lucky enough to be eligible, are laughable!!! I know it sure beats getting nothing, but look at countries with progressive views on child raising Sweeden for eg. Women are entitled to up to two years paid maternity leave, they have free medical care until the child is around 7 years, they are even entitled to bring the child to work in some circumstances. Government and corporations need to re think their attitudes towards child raising. Quality childcare needs to be affordable. Another point is that if higher rebates are available, centres will increase the fees.... my response is GREAT! wages in the child care industry are appauling as is, and I know if my child was put in care I would want them in the BEST care- that means a HAPPY, WELL PAID carer.
I think all we need is a good, strong woman with fundamental family based values and beliefs running this country. Ted Turner got it right- Men have been pretty much in charge of running the world for centuries, and, by and large have managed to "screw up " pretty much every aspect... why not hand over the reigns to the women!!! I know for a fact that the world would be a better place for it!!!

Anonymous

The cost of childcare in Noosa means that I would end up paying more to send my son to go to care that I would earn for the day! Not to mention the fact that the waiting lists ar so long that to...

I am due to have my 4th baby in a few months so at the moment going back to work is out of the question and also thinking about it going back to work after I have the baby is out of the question also, its just too expensive, I would be working just to pay child care fees. So I think why go back to work just to pay for someone else to raise your children ?. We struggle on one wage with a mortgage, car repayments, credit card and general household bills but the joy and privledge of seeing my children every day outweighs those issues.

halle

The cost of childcare in Noosa means that I would end up paying more to send my son to go to care that I would earn for the day! Not to mention the fact that the waiting lists ar so long that to...

Was lucky to get a home daycare mum. Although we've just had to find another one because our original, terrific one was pregnant and they had to fly her to Bris. with complications. I work 2 days a week. Don't really want to be at work but it helps pay the bills as we don't qualify for govt assistance.

Tasha

The cost of childcare in Noosa means that I would end up paying more to send my son to go to care that I would earn for the day! Not to mention the fact that the waiting lists ar so long that to...

I would like to return to paid employment. The extra cash would be a bonus. I miss the interaction and friendships developed at work that I no longer have. Am currently looking at employment that does not involve putting my son in day care. Nights and weekends where his dad can look after him. I have a few options to look at.

Tasha

My son is 12 weeks old. If I return to work I need to find fulltime employement with an above average wage. By the time we pay daycare fee's we are $100.00 better off a week. I will miss all the...

Would you like to go back to work eventually? Or would you only go back for financial reasons (assuming childcare was less expensive and you could actually make some extra cash)?

ayse

before i had my son (now 7mnths) i planned to go back to work (in childcare!!) but with the price of childcare, i would rather sit at home and not even bother as all my wages would go to childcare! even if i was to return to work, i would rather a family member look after my lil man as one, its so much cheaper and two, its a more one-on-one ratio.. (more interaction, more time learning)

Tanya

I am a stay at home to three kids. One in kindy, a 3 yr old and 9mth old. I would love to go back to work part time to get a bit of money, but I agree - it is just NOT WORTH IT. My husband works shifts, and the cost of putting three kids in childcare (financially and emotionally) outweighs anything else. I would be left with very little, if anything. Its not that childcare is not there, the WONDERFUL PART TIME JOBS for mums, a couple of days a week, or in school hours......ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. A real shame for a part of the potential workforce that holds a lot of skills, qualifications, motivation and experience...but held back indefinately from keeping their finger in the pie. SHAME, SHAME, SHAME

Megan

My son is 12 weeks old. If I return to work I need to find fulltime employement with an above average wage. By the time we pay daycare fee's we are $100.00 better off a week. I will miss all the...

I am from South Western Sydney and I work for a fairly male dominated semi government organisation of around 3000 staff. In the past job sharing in my section of the business has been unheard of due to the minor portion of females of child bearing age. I have found that management are happier to take on suggestions, such as job sharing if you approach it a solving a problem that they are not yet aware of (sort of) in that 2 people filling one position is better for them than 2 part time staff in 2 different positions. I have just had my 2nd child and have organised to job share with another mother who has just had her 1st child on our return to work next year, and therefore management can advertise our other position, therefore having no empty positions and 3 people sucessfully filling 2 positions. I have found that this appropach with management seems to have worked for me...... hope this helps.

michegirl

My son is 12 weeks old. If I return to work I need to find fulltime employement with an above average wage. By the time we pay daycare fee's we are $100.00 better off a week. I will miss all the...

I am a stay at home mum and I am bewildered. Do you mums feel proud of the fact that being a mum is a job in itself? You should!!!

You shouldn't feel the need to get an outside job just to feel important. If you are feeling isolated, under-appreciated, or depressed at your situation, find something that will not require such a committment as employment. Why not volunteer at a hospital or agedcare facilities(old ducks love kids), join a gym class (with childcare facilities), do a uni/tafe course by correspondence so you can study while the kid sleeps, or start up that home business that you always wanted.

Dont just put your kids into daycare for time-out. Leave those places for the mums that NEED to work. Thats what daycare was originally designed for. Step up and be a MUM!!!! Its a great job and the most important one in the world.

meddens

My son is 12 weeks old. If I return to work I need to find fulltime employement with an above average wage. By the time we pay daycare fee's we are $100.00 better off a week. I will miss all the...

I do know that in SA it is cheaper to get a nanny if you have 2 or more children. The bonus of a nanny is that you can still go to work if the children are sick, rather than paying for the child care and losing a days pay to stay home and care for them.

Polarbearmh

My son is 12 weeks old. If I return to work I need to find fulltime employement with an above average wage. By the time we pay daycare fee's we are $100.00 better off a week. I will miss all the...

My baby is 3 months old and due to finanical situation I had to return to work when he was 8 weeks old, luckily beacause I am director of a daycare centre he comes to work with me and I get a discount on top of my childcare benefit. Unfortunatly, although we can have up to 12 months maternity leave (unpaid), directors can only return part time for 4 weeksbefore having to go back full time. This really upset me as I would have liked to spend a little more time part time to get to know my first child before returning to part time. I really do think job share should be an option as I already know a few directorswho didnt return to work at all for the same reason. Unfortunatly tat is not an option for us.

blonde

My son is 12 weeks old. If I return to work I need to find fulltime employement with an above average wage. By the time we pay daycare fee's we are $100.00 better off a week. I will miss all the...

In WA, job sharing for teachers doesn't seem to be a problem, dealing with the shortage of teachers is. I no longer require childcare but as a former stay-at-home mum, I found a single mum who needed beforeschoolcare for her son, the deal we set up was that her son came to my house all ready for school and I take him to school with my two children. Then she would take my three cherubs every 2 weeks, all night so we could have a break and maybe go out. My cherubs thought it was great its just that it was not a long term solution but certainly no-one was out of pocket and all adults were happy. One of the biggest benefits of being at university full-time, was that I was classfied as a stay-at-home mum, we struggled with our budget but are now reaping the rewards.

Alicia

My son is 12 weeks old. If I return to work I need to find fulltime employement with an above average wage. By the time we pay daycare fee's we are $100.00 better off a week. I will miss all the...

I have looked into job share, but in the childcare industry, bosses do't like to do it, as it is confusing for the children - having too many different teachers

Alicia

I am a stay at home to three kids. One in kindy, a 3 yr old and 9mth old. I would love to go back to work part time to get a bit of money, but I agree - it is just NOT WORTH IT. My husband works...

Part time work does seem to be very thin on the ground. Where are you from? Have you ever spoken to another mother about job sharing?

Sim-one

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to 1 wage. Plus good childcare in the SEQ area is so hard to find!

bindieblue

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to...

i agree,the cost of child care these days is outrages...my daughter wants to go back to work but what she will earn working will be taken up with childcare fees.
she did get her daughter in two days a week,had to book her in last year to secure a position this year.She still has a 10 mth old at home and cannot afford to put both kids in care.

Shebb

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to...

Same here - it made more sense to stay home with my baby back in 2005 than it was to put her into childcare for 3 days to work. Now that I am pregnant with #4, it makes even more sense to stay home... imagine childcare for 3 children?!?!?!!?

mrzd

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to...

If I went back to work everything I earned would go towards child care, and whats the point in that?

elayneoh

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to...

I only took six weeks off work when I had my baby. I didnt want to leave my boss stuck as its a tricky business. Im a beauty therapist and my clients will only see me. I hated leavin my son into day care when he reached 4months. I pay $350a wk on daycare, $35 on transport...I earn approx $400 a wk :( its not worth it really since I miss my son so much butI havnt the heart to quit!!

Tan

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to...

I would love to be an stay at home Mum as I believe you only get to enjoy that moment of having them little once and with my two kids 7 & 2 I barely get to see them I drop themoff at 8 and pick them up at 5.30 we get home by 6.30 and 7.30/8.00 is bed time. Wheres the quality time there. We are lucky that we found a locally owned centre and pay $48 per day before the CCB. I know that others charge a huge amount more and it's a big dip out of any working parents wage. It also makes a big difference if you go over the 50 hrs care which the government allows you if you work fulltime. Most centres charge you for a full 12 hour day regardless of how long your child is actually there. So 5 days x 12 hours is 60 hrs. You end up paying quite a lot more for the extra 10 hrs your not rebated on.

MonkeyDLuffy

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to...

South East Queensland

chill

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to...

Well earlier this year my 2yo started chilcare 1 day a week, sinply because I needed a break and he needed the social stills learned from spending time with other kids. As for having to wait, I didn't because I picked a less busy day (I had the option to do that) and we qualify for 100% of the childcare benefit so it only costs me around $20per day.

nomad

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to...

Hi I work part time for a supermarket chain and have only just decide to put my oldest in child care 1 day a week, but just for 1 day it will cost us $17.00 plus $37 security bond and that's with the government's Child care Benefit taken of the original costs. I've only just done this as my 3 yr old is getting to much of a handful for my in laws to watch both of them when I'm at work as our youngest is only 10months old. When I went back to work after my first I didn't put her in child care then as my pay would have gone straight in child care fees and petrol so it wouldn't have been worth me working at all. It depends on your financial situation whether you can afford child care or not and that's why we can only just start to afford child care now but only for one of our children. We were lucky that 1 of the centres we were interested in had a vacancy but most centres are full to capaicty with a waiting list for most age groups. As if we were to put our son in at the same centre then he'd have to go on a waiting list as the babies room is full. My daughter got the last spot in the pre kindy room at the centre that she is going to.

rosey80

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to...

I was in the same boat 3 years ago. Then one of the mums at my work got me onto family daycare. It is cheap and they are very flexible. Also, the child is in a small group so they have better interaction and don't get lost in the crowd. I know that there is family daycare available in Ipswich as my mums friend is one. There is always spots available as not many people are aware of them. So if you do return to work part-time, the fees won't eat in to your earnings.

bronnie

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to...

Eventually i would like to go to work. My husband is putting the pressure on me to go back. My baby is 4 months old and m breastfeeding him. It would cost half my wages to pay for daycare and i dont think its worth it. Id prefer to work nights or weekends. The childcare would cost total a week $265 and id be left with $220.

halle

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to...

Would prefer to be a stay at home mum.

Sim-one

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to...

I would like to go back to work on a part-time/casual basis to keep my skills up and also for that adult interaction. The money side wouldn't be such a problem except for that pesky mortgage that seems to weigh over our heads.
SEQ= South East Queensland, sorry about the abbreviation.
Around the area, childcare costs upwards of $55 a day, if you can get in. Ideally if I could find a job that lets me works nights while my husband looks after our child, that would be ideal.

Sim-one

In my situation, if I was to go back to work part-time and pay for 3 days of childcare, I end up with less money than we have now. I'm better off staying at home and minding my child while we go to...

Would you like to go back to work? And excuse my ignorance, what is SEQ an abbrieviation for? And roughly how much would childcare cost you per day in your area?

etch

Often the expense of childcare limits the accessibility to some parents. It is more economical for some parents to live off one income than place child/children in care. Low income families are disadvantaged, especially if the parent is trying to seek further education/training.