Here is the problem. Parents will piece together care with a sitter or nanny for the hours surrounding FCP and Center care if they have too. Its not that parents plan to have children in care that long, it is simply not a choice. Frankly, choice, when it comes to parenthood is becoming less available every day. If you don't want to provide care for the hours a parent needs, that all that needs to be said. Many parents work more than an hour from their homes or care centers, few workplaces offer on site care, and often the choice of a one hour commute with child and near care to work is not available. Maybe this is a regional or cultural problem.

Offer what you want to offer and feel comfortable with.

Let parents make their own best decisions in the care and support of their children.

And - for the poster with a friend who grew up in China - things have changed all over the world and many parents do work world wide, full days, with long commutes and not all grandmas are retired either.

I understand most FCPs here made the career choice to be able to be with their own children. Not everyone has the gifts and talents required to take that role, and some parents have necessary skills (like pediatrician, nurse, police officer, shift worker) that do require them to be away from home for longer than is ideal.

I know many parents who could support their children if they were only paid what is covered in child care assistance. That is just not an option.

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