Here you go BC, another controversial subject-

On you mark, get set, go!

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Some families do, but not the majority. I think it is more of a preference for the lifestyle that comes with two incomes. And I don't necessarily mean a lavish lifestyle. But I think people have a hard time fathoming living without. They consider things essential, that some people choose to give up in order to stay home with their kids.

I have friend's who have given up having a car, in order to stay home. I thi k to a lot of women that would seem impossible.

Overall I think it is a matter of priorities. Not their children vs stuff, but which things they consider priorities.

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In my area, two incomes are necessary. Houses are expensive, cost of living is expensive.

I think we could swing only one income if we had a much smaller home...but it is not a choice I would want to make.

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Too many factors to really get into a meaningful debate. Where you live, what you do for a living, what your spouse does for a living and many more.

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As someone who grew up in a single parent home that recieved little but some child support- yes two incomes would make things easier when it comes to paying the bills, having healthy meals, and finding productive things to do together as a family. But it also depends on the family and the jobs, some families can afford for one partner to stay home and one to work, and some families need both partners to work. My fiance says that with what he is studying to do I wouldn't even need to work if I didn't want to but I cannot picture myself not working at all- espicually because he just got a summer paid internship and they are pretty much grooming him for a manager position and may offer him a job after graduation. I think that is because I grew up in a single parent home so there is a part of me that knows things happen and its better to be prepared for hard times or to have a back up plan. Prepare for the worst but hope for the best.

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In my area I would say no. Really depends on the lifestyle you wish to live and location you live in I think. What are wants and what are needs? We use thrift shops, coupons, shop on sale, really watch what we buy in general. Can you get by with one car ( a used not fancy one) or even no car? Freeze in season foods. No TV. No yearly vacations away. Drive through coffee everyday. Make food & eat @ home. No Smart phones or whatever the latest gadget is. Many things that have become routine or habit appear as needs to many people. Without the extras I'm certain many in my area could have one parent at home. Just think of the savings of not paying daycare alone! Then again I would be out of a job As a single parent I love that I can be at home and bring in enough income to get by. We certainly have more than enough to get by on comfortably, but not living large by any means.

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I think that the majority of the time, especially in my area, no. I have a dcb in my care whose parents can most certainly afford it on one income, Mom just prefers to work. She has said to me on numerous occassions "I just couldn't do this all day with him." She also only works 3 days, yet dcb is full time.

We made a LOT of sacrifies when I decided to stay home/do childcare. I started with just 2 kids at a much lesser rate because my own children were little. We cut out our cell phones, cable, XM radio, my more frequent hair & nail appointments, paid down/off debt, eating out, mall splurges, and only have one car payment at a time. We can now EASILY get by on one income.

I am also seeing lots more single parents and parents who have one/both spouses lose a well paying job and need to go back to work because of the loss of income. There really is no way around dual incomes in these circumstances, they aren't doing it because they don't care, kwim?

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I have noticed that a lot of families live above their means & are always trying to keep up with the Joneses so they are strapped for cash. Then maybe a pay raise comes along-so they buy even bigger houses, better cars and they are STILL living above their means...Many people don't seem to know the difference between a want and a need...Spend $ they don't have, too much credit card debt, etc.

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I think there are too many variables to make sweeping judgements. If my hubby were making a ton of money we wouldn't need 2 incomes. But he's a second-career public school teacher who's only been in the field 5 years; there's no way our family could make it on his income alone.

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I can only answer for my own family and I can tell you I wouldn't be doing daycare if we didn't need my income, but my idea of "need" and yours may be different and that's ok. COL is pretty high here with high property taxes, etc. so that alone makes me working a "need". We are not in debt (except our house), I drive a 10 year old van, we have a budget and while all our absolute TRUE essentials (house, utilities,food) can be covered by DH's salary I do still feel we NEED my income. I feel I NEED to put money away for braces and college and all that other stuff that comes up. I do also WANT them to play football and soccer and maybe even take a vacation every few years and all that would have to come from my salary.

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This is my personal answer as well. We paid off our debt after I started daycare. Haven't charged a thing since. (Except that we pay off right away for our Amazon Rewards! See Amazon thread, haha...)

We were hurting. Really hurting for a long time. Starting the daycare and my husband getting out of commission sales and into 50 hour a week manual labor saved us. I don't take anything for granted.

I also drive a 18 year old Astro mini van! I love that beast, hah!

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I agree. I think you can definitely get by with one income but it may require a move and doing without. Is it doable yes.

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IMO in most cases (lor at least in my case) no, it is not necessary. I say this as a mom whose husband DOES NOT by any way shape or form bring in a huge income & yet we are able to get by (scrape by I should say). To me it was important to be home with my kids, more important than having the latest technology, new furniture, a newer car, taking fancy vacations, etc. We do live in the midwest which is a LCOL area so that helps. And I do not have luxury items. Part of the reason why I do daycare is so we can help make ends meet but to take on 5-6 kids for daycare was never part of my plan b/c it defeats the purpose of me being home. That is why I usually only have 2-3 DC kids - it is enough for me to help with groceries & pay for incidentals (kids' sports fees, etc). So I guess there are a ton of factors as to why some families need 2 incomes but if I totally stopped doin daycare we would survive but just barely. We just choose to live below our means in most cases (or try to)! Our vehicles are paid for & are 10 & 8 years old & we will not replace unless one dies completely. I think sometimes people take on extra debt & then have to earn the $$$ to pay for what they think they need which in some cases are non-essential items.

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I can only comment on what I know. Where I live it would be nearly impossible to survive and have children on only one parents' income.

We live in a townhouse 1,200 sq ft condo and our mortgage (HOA, water, garbage and property tax included) is almost $3,000 a month. That doesn't include the other utilities. To rent an apartment or home the same size it would cost about $1,800-$2,000/mo. I only make $30,000 a year at the moment so thank goodness that my DH makes well over that. To help us out we rent one of our spare bedrooms out to my mom for $450 monthly which is a steal compared to how much other rooms are to rent.

We could save money by renting but then we would never actually own anything ourselves and we do have 3 cars (my DC van, our commuter car and a truck) and we COULD give one of those up but DH doesn't want to give up his truck . We already coupon, shop sales etc. and rarely go out to restaurants to eat. Out of all of my friends that I know only 2 couples have it where the wife doesn't work. One doesn't have kids and the other live with the husbands parents (2 kids).

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We lived in northern Virginia and Southern California on a single military income for 11 years. We ended up owning homes in both locations as well. We made it work by not having debt, keeping our vehicles for a long time (and only having 1 vehicle for 4 years), not buying things we don't need (still don't have one of those flat TVs). Now I do work but we don't have cable, our cars are 10 and 7 years old and we hardly ever go out. Most of our extra money goes to our retirement savings and our investments.

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For my family, yes. Separately, our incomes are sad. Together, we are one decent income.

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Most? No.

I can support myself and my kids on my income. I'm frugal. But, had I wanted to be a stay-at-home-mom (which I would LOVE!) I wouldn't have been able to. My STBX-husband only made enough to support us when we lived somewhere that made our monthly bill totals $1500/month.
Having a smaller home would not have lowered our bills by anything. The only debt I have now is my mortgage.

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I thrift shop, coupon, shop on sale, watch what I buy, have a paid off car, don't have cable, vacation at my parent's lake house ($30 in gas total), don't order beverages or good out, always eat at home (unless my parents are treating us), no smart phone, no fru-fru gadgets ... and that's how I get by.

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For me personally, yes. We could live on one income.

My DH and I own our home/40 acres and our vehicles. We have boats, snowmobiles, and other toys...all paid for in cash.

The only bills we have is the mortgage on the daycare house and our day to day living expenses.

We have no credit cards and no debt.

How? Did we win the lottery? Come into a large sum of money? Have rich parents or long lost family members?

Nope.

We simply went without for many many years. We worked hard to save and scrimp for the things we felt we important. We took family trips/vacations and activities that were free or very low cost.

We never applied for a credit card ever and never ever bought any type of toy or something fun unless we had the cash to pay for it in full.

In my personal opinion, it CAN be done.

It just depends on how bad you want to do it and how many things you want to live without....an if that meant moving to a part of the country that allowed us to do things in the way we did, I would have moved if necessary.

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*NEED* two incomes?

No.

But most Americans struggle with the true definition of that word now days and would probably argue otherwise....

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I don't know about anyone else - I know my family needs both my and DH's income to help put food on the table and keep the roof over our heads. Do we have what others would consider "extras?" I'm sure. But most of our income goes into retirement, college savings and investments/savings. There are many elderly women in poverty because they left the workforce to stay home with the kids only to find out that their husband's pensions died off with them.

FWIW my mother was a SAHM even though my father's salary was not enough to support us. I remember periods of not having enough food, or proper fitting clothing, having the phone shut off frequently, etc. I would have loved if she had gone off to work, even PT.

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Question-did you work during this time or were you doing a one income household. Was it taking both of your incomes to get by or did you live on one income and save the other.

I've always been interested on one income families, budgets, how to live but not worry about bills, food and such so that you can have one income.

We are getting ahead a little bit each month but then something sets us back-medical bills (a couple thousand), braces (four four children), sending a child to public school is not cheap (four children), utilities alone (sometimes $500), mortgage (ugh), and the list goes on. If its not one thing its something else.

This month we will be writing checks for 3 fieldtrips-$150!

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I do Home DC because I need that second income I am not thrilled and exited about having a mess and a part of my home invaded by DC kids and stuff, but it NEEDS to be done. Why? Poor decision making during younger years, now to much debt and we might be able to survive on my husbands income w/out the debt, but we would have to live very frugally. So until I pay my credit cards/student loans etc debt, I will still need to work, but I choose to do it from home because I believe is the best for my child. Now, I know many people that don't need that second income, they would do just fine without and still have a "good" life, but they choose not to, they choose to send their kids to DC so they can advance in their careers, so they can have more and more in life, I don't understand that lifestyle but to each their own. I am more old fashioned, I believe in a home where the child is raised by the mother, for me that would be the ideal situation.

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We don't NEED both incomes. However, something always happens! My son broke his arm not long ago. Thank goodness for my income! I don't make a lot but I don't have to spend the money on dc for my kids now. We are also buying a bigger home between now and next March. We could buy a smaller home but I want my kids to have their own rooms. They already have to share a portion of the house with dc kids. Hubs wants a boat and toys etc.... We want things, and we want to enjoy life. We use his income for bills and mine goes into savings.
Unfortunately, his ex wife is taking him back to court (she doesn't want to work, just wants more support) so that means $300 an hour for our lawyer.

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I live in your town. I do know people that live on one income. Heck we could if I did not have CC debt. (my choice to over spend.) I think a lot of times people think they NEED two incomes but I think if they really looked at what they spend on they wouldn't. I have one family that what they pay me is what the mom makes. She says she works for retirerment. I don't know I would rather stay home with my kids, but then to each their own.

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This EXACTLY! I think MOST people could survive on one income if they really wanted to.

It took me 8 years to get pregnant with my 3rd child. When it was time to go back to work.... Well it just wasn't gonna happen! There was nothing I wouldn't give up to be able to stay home with him. I worked to darn hard to get him here to let him spend his days with someone else. But I know ALOT of people aren't like that. Others needs are probably luxury items to me. ALOT of people HAVE to have cell phones, cable tv, name brand clothes, new cars, 5 flat screen TVs, 3 different types of computers......and so on. I have all of the things I just mentioned BUT would of willingly gave up every bit of it.

Honestly.... I get super sad when I hear parents talk about the long hours they work. Some having little to no time with their kids. It's just not worth it!

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We kind of took turns. First I was a college student and a stay at home mom while DH worked. I took mostly evening classes so he could be home with the kids.

Then I went to work and he stayed home. Granted he was building his own home business at the same but it wasn't like he had a consistent income.

He was only paid if he had orders for his products and the first 5 years were VERY slow and almost all the money he did make was put back into his business.

There were maybe only one or two years I can think of where we both actually had an income.


It is completely do-able in my opinion. You really just have to be decisive about the things you view as necessary or needed and what things you view and not-so-necessary or wanted.

My DH and I also made a conscious point to only have two children because we wanted to be able to afford certain things that we KNEW having more would not allow. Not saying it is bad to have more than two kids but both my DH and I came from families with 5 and 6 kids so we knew how that impacted a family and the pocket book.

I have also posted before about how I raised my children to work from the beginning. They were taught to prioritize their jobs before any extra curricular activities in school. School first, work second (their own jobs as well as chores at home) and then after school sports and/or school related functions.

I am confused by the statement that sending your child to public school is not cheap as it is public so why would it be so expensive?

We also took an unconventional route and don't have a traditional mortgage on our home. We were able to take out an equity loan against the property we owned and built our house for 1/4 of the value. I am lucky that my DH is a VERY skilled laborer. He is a plumber, an electrician, a woodworker and a mechanic so he pretty much built our home by himself.

Bottom line is that you really have to decide between want and need. After you do that, the rest is easy.

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I think that it truly does depend on what region of the country you live in. For example, my sister and her husband live in an area where rent for a nice three bedroom apartment is only about $400/month. Where I live it is $850 at the low end. My sister lives in a very large home (three floors, four bedrooms, mother-in-law apartment) that cost less than $70,000. My 900 sq. foot house cost $93,000. Area really does make a difference.

Also, while it is true that your lifestyle choices play a major role in your expenses, it is a struggle for me to live on my income only and we (me and three children) do not live lavishly: no car, no cable, no credit cards, cooking & eating at home, no vacations. The only debt I have is my mortgage and student loans because I refuse to get bogged down in credit card debt. Is it tempting? Absolutely. Especially around the holidays, but then I remind myself that they will appreciate whatever I can afford more than a stressed-out me everyday of the year.

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I live in the Midwest so the cost of living is not nearly as high as many other places around the country, but we're trying to work down our debt from our younger and less educated years. We NEED both incomes in order to do so. We sold the vehicle with a car payment, cancelled the cable, and lowered our cell phone plan from unlimited everything to only what we need and we are still struggling. We basically only pay for the necessities. Our home is 95 years old, has only 5 years left on the mortgage, and the payment is equivalent to what rent goes for around here... so trading down is not an option.

I'm currently unemployed while I get the daycare started up, but my husband does make a decent living. Anyway, I guess if we had been smarter about our spending in the past we would be bathing in moolah right now

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I hear ya, we just got married in August and are paying that off (and we only had a $7k wedding) PLUS my DH's debt that he had before we ever started dating. I'm sure if we downsized and lived in a different area we could totally live off of one income ... but, like I said ... we have 3 cars (3 car payments), a ridiculous mortgage (he bought when the market was high) etc. . There are deffinetely other places that we can skimp but my DH likes his toys .

It's good to see someone here from my neck of the woods. I hadn't realized .

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We lived on my income (childcare) and dh had a part time job for part of the time when he went back to school at 38 total income for that time period was $14,000 a year. We lived. We do have a mortgage. But, a lot of things just didn't happen. Thankfully God watched over us. When he finally had a decent job I stopped doing childcare. I was off a year, it was tight, no extras. Then my dd got accepted to the college of her dreams. I started doing childcare again to pay for her (she has decent financial aid but there is still a decent amount to pay). I do totally appreciate that year! Totally reorganized my life. In all actuality, I missed my little ones.

In today's society most people believe they must have 2 cars, cell phones, dish etc. We did live without all of those things for years. You can adjust to being a one income family but you have to adjust the "needs". Ok now you have me thinking what can we cut again...

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I do think that there is all type of scenarios that create a need for two incomes. I do believe that most all of them are a choice. It maybe poor financial choices or conscious decisions knowing that it would take two incomes to support and maintain that type of lifestyle. My husband and I were the later of the two scenarios; we made choices knowing that it took two incomes to support the lifestyle. But with a little planning and hard work we made a switch when I was surprised with baby number three.

For two years I worked two jobs along with him. We paid off our cars and started budgeting instead of spending. We began to live below our means and stopped acquiring STUFF. Reduced vacations and cut out a ton to extracurricular activities for us. What we found was that we were spending more quality time at home and really enjoying our house and children on a whole different level. We were finally having fun.

But I was now home with two children born 14mo apart (surprise baby #4), no real adult interaction, no extra funds for “Mom Fun”, and found that we were getting in a rut as a couple. The decision to open the home daycare was to allow me to have the best of both worlds. Not to mention owning our own business, whoohoo, we win.

So while my income is not needed to keep the household running it is doing much more it is giving me purpose. We are being smart with the extra income though, saving, paying off student loans (our only debt other than our home), and doing some much needed updating to our forever home.

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[color="red"]"I am confused by the statement that sending your child to public school is not cheap as it is public so why would it be so expensive?"[/COLOR]

Our schools charge for everything here beginning in elementary school.

School supplies ($30 including everything for projects throughout the year)
Then they have to buy a planner (5.00)
My son and I are going on a field trip ($70.00)
Then there are things here and there throughout the year that they need money for school.

Middle school-

ASB fee-$17
Towel fee-$5
To take art class-$10
Then we did buy an annual-$20
Two field trips-$50
Schools supplies-$50 (with everything we have put into supplies throughout the year)


Grand total-$102

All of the electives charge-$10 to take them yet you have to take two of them a semester

Then they charge $25 dollars for pe uniform but we were able to skip and just always use a white shirt/black shorts

Then there is another $10 for the PSA.

Sports is $125

HighSchool:

Registration: $15
Elective:$10
Athletic Pass:Students get into all games free-$12:00
Then we did buy the yearbook-$55.00
School Supplies: ($50.00 because of projects throughout the year)
One field trip: $25

Grand total: $148.50

Sports are $150 also

Alot of the electives have a $10 fee so you could easily rack up $50 in just electives.

Also, at the high school alot of times you have to check you text books out of the library for homework/studying for tests/etc. Sometimes kids try and just buy them on Amazon.

Grand total= $355.50 Roughly $120 per child for public school

Last year it was more as we had two in high school and we seemed to have all sorts of fees for the senior for classes and such. Then they charge for all the tests that seniors take and AP classes.

This is just our personal family. This year it will be also different because we will have one in middle school/two in highschool so it could even be more depending on what classes they have to take.

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There are way too many variables to answer that question properly.

• What is the income of the primary worker?
• How many dependents rely on the primary worker?
• What is the cost of living for the bare essentials?
• What other expenses are "essential" for the household?
• Are there additional expenses?

For example, if you are a single parent with one child, the cost of living is very low and the family is extremely frugal, you may be able to get by with working a minimum wage job (or close) and no second source of income.

On the other hand, if there is a family of 6 living in an area with an extremely high cost of living (New York or California for instance), one parent is self employed and requires a Blackberry and home internet access for their business and the schools in the area are poor enough that the family feels it is in the children's best interest for them to attend a private school, living off a single income may not be possible.

We personally need a second income because our bills exceed my husband's income. We need the second income to cover the remaining bills, food and incidentals.

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On another note, has anyone noticed that most cell phone companies are removing basic plans from their options? Many companies only have data plans now (and if you have 2 lines then it would be cheaper to get a family line). That automatically puts the bill at over $100 for most cell phone companies .

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I am a little confused by your response, you ARE a 2 income family by doing daycare, regardless of how many kids you take, yet in one breathe you are saying no, you don't need 2 incomes and in another saying you'd barely survive without your income. So, essentially, isn't your answer yes, you need to be a 2 income family even though you are frugal????

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I think I am in your same position. I grew up in a single family home with 2 siblings. We could get by on my husband's income, but I'm not comfortable with what we would do if something happened to him. We actually have income coming in from each of our fulltime jobs, plus 3 parttime jobs. If we could build up our savings - both liquid and long term, I would consider quitting my day job, but that won't happen for some time.

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What if something happens to the "bread winning" spouse? Death, divorce, separation, loss of job, etc. are all things that need to be considered. It is not easy to just "pop" back in to the work force - even those with advanced degrees need to brush up on their skill sets, which may mean shelling out more money at a time when you are trying to cut back.

I think it's simplistic to say that people *could* live on one income if they choose to. One of my dc families, dad was let go from his job (he's an accountant!) and was out of work for over six months. Their kids are young, and I know mom didn't want to go back to work after the youngest was born - she had even gone to PT. I know as time went on things would have gotten desperate, especially since mom was coming off maternity leaves and they had probably already were low in savings. I know they were very thankful mom was earning.

I love having my income and knowing that if something were to happen to DH that we would have some type of cushion.

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What she said. ^

I stayed home with my children until they reached 1st Grade and then got a part time job while they were at school. It was a total of 12 years because my children were 10 years apart and I estimate it COST us approximately $10,000.00 per year for me to stay home. I did things here and there to defray the costs - did Direct sales at night for several years, did some Childcare.

I see many people crying "We HAVE to both work" to their parents and the parents raise their children while they go off to work. While there are Grandparents that truly love spending time with their grandchildren, they are suckers in my opinion to take them on full time. (Unless, of course they did the same thing with their own children and this is their first chance to actually raise a child.)

We live frugally - cut coupons, don't take vacations, rarely go out to eat. (My break from cooking is usually Pizza once a week and on rare occasions Chinese Take out.) I used to cut the kids hair myself, I've never had a manicure, I get hair cuts about 2-3 times a year - just make sure it's a style that will be simple and not go out of shape quickly. I dye my own hair and trust me - put that off forever.

We've made some mistakes and are paying for it financially but I don't regret the time spent at home with my kids. It breaks my heart to see folks rushing back to work and missing so much of their children's lives all for the allmighty buck ($). But it's their CHOICE, not need.

The one exception is if there is a horrific illness or disability that has set someone back financially. But I draw the line when they say Obesity is a Disability.

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Perhaps if my hubby was in his previous position (he got laid off) we could get away with not having two incomes for a short period, but in his current position I HAVE to work to make ends meet.

I think it all depends on what the *bread winner* of the family actually makes. I'm sure there are some who could afford to not work, but choose too, but my guess is that many more need to work to make ends meet.

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Life is full of choices.

We Choose whether to go to College so that we can hopefully get a good paying job - or not.

We Choose the jobs we take whether they pay a lot - or not.

We Choose to stay home with our kids - or not.

Sometimes we let others choose for us but ultimately it is our choice.

I've been fortunate enough to have my last 2 jobs fall into my lap. Both jobs have been willing to work around my child's school schedule, both have been working for a Non-Profit Church. I kind of feel that while I made the choice, the big man upstairs is leading the way.

To paraphrase from JK Rolling.. ""It is our choices, (Harry), that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

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its extremely rare here to find families with one income and none of us are living lavishly either..
i worked for the government for most of my life and my income as average i would say.. my husband made the same. last year was the FIRST time i took my kids on vacay.. we only go shopping if something is worn out of we dont have something we need.. i would love to keep up with the Jones' but i cant cuz heck, i barely have much money after paying bills and no credit card..
i too had my tubes tied after 2 children because i knew i could not provide for more than that.. i totally agree with others, this question just depends on where you are.. the few familes i do know where mom doesnt work are the ones in the lavish homes and cars so i dont think they are following these rules of minimalism LOL.. but great for those that can.. i would LOOOOVVVVEE it!!

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I can agree with this. After reviewing our financial statements and budget I found that we could definitively cut out a lot more unneeded things than I originally thought. If we cut these all out and made these payments towards our debt we could downsize our home and live in a different part of town (or city) and live off of one income.

We CHOOSE to have Direct TV
We CHOOSE to have internet
We CHOOSE to have 3 kids
We CHOOSE enroll our kids in extra curricular activities (sports, gymnastics etc)
We CHOOSE to go out to dinner for date night/double dates
We CHOOSE to go on vacations
We CHOOSE to live in the city that we live in
We CHOOSE to live in the part of the city that we live in
We CHOOSE to live in the size home that we live in
MY DH CHOOSES to have flat screens in all rooms
MY DH CHOOSES to have 2 cars (all newer cars) and therefore 2 car payments
MY DH CHOOSES to go out with his buddies for guy's night every other week.
MY DH CHOOSES to buy expensive toys for our kids
I CHOOSE to allow him to spend his spare money any way he wants to
Etc.

There are definitely more places that my family could cut out expenses in order to live off of one income, we CHOOSE not to.

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I think we could make it on one, we have before. But in my area that would require moving to another part of town. We moved from there a few years ago and I WILL NOT go back. Neighbors dealing in the garage next door, shootings around the corner and the shooter running thru our backyards, late/middle of the night knocks on my door from who knows, etc. I would rather that both of us work and we stay where we are. Do we "need" everything we have....no. I could go without-can dh? Probably not. He has some issues with giving things up. I wish he could give up certain things, especially right now, but, yeah, not a fight I want right now.

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If people/families could survive on one income, we would all be out of business. Am I right?

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If people/families didn't live beyond their means or chose to have life's awesome little extras then we'd be out of business.

I do daycare to help out with the household bills but even if I didn't need to I would still want to do it. If I didn't do daycare or it wasn't an option I don't know that I would want to just stay home and do nothing, I like to work. Staying home isn't always an option for all people, some like to have careers.

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Yes, but it might be what would be best for these little guys (being home with a parent).

Think also how happier some of our own families would be and I think even the best providers have stress in their lives because of childcare.

I think in the end it might be best-

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I agree

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