My wife and I both work from home. Which has made the last 7 months amazing. Since our daughter has been here, we have been able to witness and be apart of every single moment of her life.

That has been wonderful. I am so grateful for the opportunity to do this.

However, as she's grown, so has the demands for attention, education, naps, and so on. So since work is getting for both of us a little more demanding, we are feeling like we aren't able to give her the attention she deserves.

We had looked into places before she was born.

3 decent daycares near us cost the following.

1 - 8:30am to 3:30pm - $12,650/year
2 - 7:30am to 2pm - 13,000/year
3 - 82am - 5pm - $14,750/year - this one also charges $150 a month for food. $450 yearly registration fee, and $200 for uniform.

We just reached out them again and only the first one has room available. The cost are more if you pay monthly instead of all at once. So option 1 is a cost of $1,300 a month for 10 months aka 13K a year. $1,300 is almost a mortgage payment. Option 1 looks decent enough, but the "play area" is a concrete walled in outside with astro turf on the ground. They have a 1-3 ratio which, I can see why it cost that much.

The craziest thing, I decided to look into qualifications for state assistance and for a family of 3, in FL to qualify you have to be in school and not make more than $32K a year.

That is insane.

I know it sounds like one of those issues that should have been paying attention to, but yeah it can be difficult to see something until it affects you and your wallet.

This shit need to be seriously worked on, cuz continuing to have stagnant wages with increased childcare cost is not sustainable.