Childcare costs – our experience – Mummascribbles

Once again, the cost of childcare in the UK has been all over the news today following the report that it has increased a third over the last five years. This post is a look at our situation as full time working parents.

I’d like to say I’m lucky – I am really – my mum looks after Zach 3 days a week meaning we only have to pay two days for him at nursery. The only reason mum stopped working though is because my dad died and so I am less lucky, I would much rather he was still with us and mum was still working. That however isn’t the case and so yes I am lucky that our childcare fees are a lot less than they should be. That said, even for just those two days per week, we pay a lot of money.

There’s a part of me that thinks it’s a ludicrous amount – I read a post earlier about the bits and bobs that are included in nursery fees but ours aren’t – I have to supply nappies, wipes and creams unlike his old nursery that included everything.

What is included of course, is food. They have an onsite chef who makes everything fresh with lots of healthy vegetables and fruit. I remember when we visited the nursery for a show round and we saw her mid cooking shepherds pie. The smell coming out of the kitchen was amazing!!

What is also included is love and much much more. A whole lot of love, attention, cuddles, play, learning, more love, more cuddles. If I can’t spend the day with my boy myself, I want someone to be looking after him who cares for him like I do and if there’s one thing for sure, it’s that he gets a whole lot of love.

There’s also friends and I think that’s one of the most important things a toddler can have. Regular contact with other children, learning how to play alongside them and developing social skills. Zach has bloomed since being in nursery.

What we have to remember is that these people need salaries which in retrospect are stupidly low. It is one of those jobs that is so terribly paid for what they actually do. They spend 10 hours a day looking after our little boy along with many other boys and girls. The level of trust we put in them, the responsibility that they have is huge. It is a far bigger responsibility than my own job which probably pays double what they get. So in my eyes, yes it’s expensive, but how can you put a cost on the welfare of your child?

Of course, I think something needs to be done and I hope that the political parties are serious in all their bribes of upping the hours of free care and bringing it in at a younger age for those who work. People who do want to work are struggling to go back because they can’t afford to pay for childcare. Working or not working (if you can afford to be a sahm), should not be a luxury. If you want to work and have kids, you should be able to. If you want to stay at home, you shouldn’t feel bad for not working. It’s horrible that it’s 2015 and yet it’s becoming increasingly hard to live an affordable life.

In our case, if Zach was in full time childcare, we would be seriously skint but still be earning just enough that we’d both still need to work!

And that’s with just one child! If we are going to have another, we have to plan meticulously to ensure that we don’t have to pay two lots of childcare fees. The cost of childcare is the only reason we are not already pregnant! And let’s not even get started on the pathetic-ness of statutory maternity pay!!

Do your little ones go to nursery? What do you think of the costs of sending them? Everybody be nice – I know it’s a touchy subject!!