Another Craigslist Ad that I'm unsure how to feel about. She asks for exactly what she needs and spells it out to the letter. She's upfront & honest. I guess I just know all that it takes & costs to take care of children...even older children. I just feel like whoever she gets may burn out or realize that they've bitten off more than they can chew...emotionally and financially (she also needs sick care because she can't get off of work & it looks like she'd like some enrichment activities because she mentions them NOT sitting in front of the TV). In my area (northeast), care costs anywhere from $150 to $200 per child. What do you guys think???

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I am looking for a loving person to care for my children while I work. I have 3 daughters. 9, 6, and almost 3. My 9 and 6 year old go to ***XX Elementary School. YOU MUST LIVE IN THE AREA OF THAT SCHOOL. I will need before and after school care for them. My 2.5 year old will need to be care for full time. My hours are 8-4:30 Monday thru Friday. I work local for there is not that much travel; time to be factored into drop off and pick up. I have had very bad luck with childcare thus far. I finally found a good person and they have changed their mind and can no longer watch my girls. Unfortunately, being I am a single parent I must trust the care of my babies with another person. I have a very important job; I cannot leave work for issues with the children unless they are urgent. I will need someone who is available for snow days, 2 hour delays, and days that school is closed--to watch my older girls. I need someone who is available and willing to watch and care for my child if they are sick and cannot go to school. I need a loving, compassionate person to look over when they are not feeling well. Being hat I am a single parent, I cannot afford to pay the expensive fees that the daycare centers charge. I am willing to pay $100.00 for my 2 year old and $50.00 for the part time with my 2 older. If there is a day that school is closed for snow of a holiday I will compensate for the additional days. I will pay $20.00 per day that you watch the older 2 for a full day. This person should be a stay at home mom that is looking to make a few extra bucks caring for some great girls. This is not intended to be some business deal for money making and sitting my girls in front of the TV all day. I wish I could stay home with them--but the world doesn't work like that. I must trust someone to have my role while I work. I am firm on the payment, which is why I am upfront in this ad. I am a single mother. I do not want to keep switching my poor girls around to different people. Please only respond if you are looking for log term. Please make sure this is something you want to do. Please call ****** at ***-***-***X. Thank you

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Actually the pay sounds just fine to me--normal for where I live anyway. And she's even willing to compensate additional $$ for days off school. The ONLY issue I see with it is the need for sick care for her kids.

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I'm going to guess that the tone of this ad (and the person behind it) is the reason her current provider "changed their mind" . Well, that and the low pay.

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I guess I should also say that before/after school in this area costs anywhere from $65 to $95 per child (more in the centers).

As the mom says, it's not always about the money....BUT a lot goes into this and I could see someone getting burned out mentally & financially....and super sick during the cold & flu season!

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Is the pay for the week or month? If its for the month that is still pretty low for full-time care especially for a two year old. What will she do when summer comes and the SA are in care full-time? There should really be some type of show that shows what we go through in a day and what parents want to pay for that!

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That rate isn't average around here even for family childcare homes. I think she is looking more for a stay-at-home mom or housewife to care for her kids. That or maybe someone just starting out in childcare.

She says $100 for the 2 1/2 year old and $50 for the other 2 kids. I'm going to guess here that she means $25 a week for each older child. Then she'll add another $20 on days that the school is closed for care of the older 2, so $10 a piece extra.

Where I am (in CA) if she wanted childcare with me she'd be paying $160 a week for the 2 1/2 year old alone and (assuming that she'll need 1 hour of childcare before school and 2 hours of childcare after school) I'd charge $15 per day per school ager for regular school days and $40 a day per school-ager for days that school was out. She wants to pay $150 a week for three kids (for a regular school week) when in my area she would be paying $310 a week for all 3 kids. $150 a week here wouldn't cover her one 2 1/2 year old. It would only cover her 2 school agers.

I agree with Angel, maybe her other DC provider "changed her mind" once she realized all the work and costs of caring for 3 children vs the money she was getting. It just seems like a tall order for what she can pay, care for 3 kids and SA's taken to school. $150 a week would deffinately not be worth it for me when I get $160 a week for 1 child.

What is the average rate for regular FT childcare in a family childcare home?

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That pay seems low to me even if it were for the week much less for the month . I'm pretty sure she means for the week.

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No...I am in the Northeast. Pretty comparable to California.

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She is asking too much. Around here she would easily be charged $150 for the little one, and $60 a week per older one plus I don't know of a single home daycare provider that does sick care. A nanny might but she is going to have a hard time finding that level of care for that pay. Providing transportation, and probably getting unpaid holidays and such is going to leave the bottom of the barrel type people and those people don't stick around for long. eventually she will figure that out.

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The single Mom rationale for low pay is becoming so popular now but the care of the single Mom kids is just as hard as the care of kids with two parents. The reason for the discount doesn't have any lessening affect on the work involved. That's why it doesn't work.

She wants a private nanny for the price of low paying home day care. She believes that she has a good reason for asking for something expensive and offering a low price for it. 1) She's a single Mom 2) Her kids have had many providers that have worked out poorly and they DESERVE to have the stability of a good provider.

Neither of these are going to pay the nannies bills. The only people willing to do this are the ones that don't have a better gig today. As soon as they get a better gig tomorrow they will quit.

This Mom needs to buy a vowel and start looking for care she CAN afford. This will most likely be really low end child care. She needs to get creative and possibly offer bartering day care where she does evening and weekend care for someone else in exchange for them doing daytime care for her.

There's a reason she can't find what she wants. She is asking for something that is expensive for reasons that don't have anything to do with the job of caring for kids. She will need to go through many providers until she realizes she is not entitled to special. Being a single Mom and struggling to pay for child care is the norm now. There's nothing within that that entitles you to something for next to nothing.

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Wow! She is asking a lot for little money. Hope she can find a good loving person willing to do this.

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WOW... This is exactly what I was feeling but couldn't quite put my finger on it. It's almost like a sense of entitlement because she is single, but it doesn't make the job any less manageable or economical for whoever is doing it. A stay-at-home-mom still has to pay her light bill and put food on her table. I really hope these kids get someone who cares about them....I'm hoping she can find a family member maybe.

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Yep, I laugh each time (literally) I get a single parent or a young couple and they come for an interview and ask for a lower rate. I'm honest with them at least and explain to them that parenting is a HUGE responsibility and very expensive and that the decision to have a baby is a very serious one to make. Now that he/she/they have already made that decision they need to realize what kind of childcare they want and expect to pay accordingly.

If they don't mind a free range daycare with no structure or activities then maybe they should look into that type of care since it is the least expensive. If they want me or someone like me they will pay more. If they want better and "special" as Nan puts it they can expect to pay top dollar. That alone puts a deer-in-headlights or blank stare on their faces but they need to understand that it isn't fair to any other loyal and long-time clients that have made the responsible decisions and pay the normal rates and then for a young couple or single parent to get a special price. I for one will not reward poor choices and I don't feel it's my responsibility to take a hit in my income for circumstances that I had no control over or have nothing to do with me.

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Oh my goodness!!! You ladies are preaching the gospel today....all I can do is read it like a deer in the headlights.... SO dead on!!!

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I think the single parent thing may have generated from a combination of the free child care, free food stamps, free wic, free health care, and free education that comes with being single and having a child.

I've seen first hand how someone who had a minimum wage job, didn't complete high school, and right after conceiving was entitled to benefits that dramatically increased their standard of living.

In the begining it's the free health care, dental care, vision care, food stamps and WIC. That happens within a few weeks. Then once the child is born they get all of those plus a free birth, more WIC, more food stamps, energy assistance, free child care and access to free or near free college.

It's TOO MUCH.

When you offer someone SO much free then they BELIEVE they are entitled to it. The people they know realize they have now really increased their standard of living.... they have better food... they have the chance to go to college without being incumbered by the debt.

Once it becomes known from the time the kids are teenagers that they have access to so much for doing so little within a couple of generations it's just expected.

Then it works it's way into the next class of people. We now REALLY believe that if you are a single parent that you are in the one down and need a hand up. The words "single parent" just flies off of the lips of those who are asking for an exception or special.

It's making us WEAK. My Mom was a single parent and she didn't get ANY entitlements. She got child support and worked full time. She PAID for our health insurance. She PAID for our food. She did child care for her friends and they did child care for her. We lived with her friends and their kids. We shared rooms and shared food.

I've been a single Mom for eleven years. I've never been a mom and not been a single Mom. Until the thread that Silver put up about helping the single mom out I didn't even THINK about that me being a single parent would be something I could wave into the air and GET something for it. With the exception of the "single head of household" tax thing.. I don't get anything for it.

It used to be that what single Moms could say or get for being a single parent was an understanding that their child may need males in their life to balance their life. Grandpas and uncles became more important. Working it out with Dad to get Dad time became more important. Having "boy" activities for the fatherless boys became more important.

NOT FREE MONEY STUFF

My neice is a freshman in college. Her parents and she are looking at about 17K a year of money for her to go to a state college. It's taking everything they have to pay for this and to help her get the funding. She's an A student and has worked very hard since second grade to be the best she could be. She has done everything right for her education.

She gets next to nothing in assistance. There was very little available for scholarship monies even for the kids with the super high grade point averages, loads of community volunteer work, and a long history of "extra" education in the arts and sports.

It's absolutely rediculous that she gets nothing and the girls she went to school with and grew up with who have babies get tens of THOUSANDS of dollars of free assistance every year because they have a kid or kids.

Let's show some support for the ones who DO not just the ones who can or should do.

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agree strongly with nanny. I figured it out once, I would actually have more if I got divorced and got all the free. There are next to no college assistance programs for me (a mom of three trying to go to college and move up in the world). I could go to college for almost free or free if I ditched my husband along the way, which of course I am not willing to do. I have known several girls that actually had more kids in order to stay at home (and live better than if they were working outside the home) or turned down job promotions, raises, etc in order to stay in the same income bracket and receive free childcare (which was better off financially than them bettering themselves through a career).

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Dear Parent looking for a bargain:
Rotsa Ruck!
Many of us are already taking less money so that they can stay home and be Parents to their children. We also have a very important job. You and your children are not any more special than Me and Mine. Get over yourself.

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