Daycare costs for the middle class

Guess what I saw this morning on ABC news? They were discussing how the middle class should pay for daycare in such hard times. Although the federal government has a lot of grants and programs for families that are considered low income, they completely missed the middle class. I'm not going to lie when it comes to talking about how much we pay in daycare costs, its more than what we pay in rent. But since both Crazy and I are worker bees, we took into consideration our incomes when it came to having a child and being able to provide a life for him.

Anyhow, the reporter this morning was asking an "expert" how middle income families can afford to pay for decent daycare. The "expert" suggested that middle income families should ask their parents to help cover daycare costs after they put their children through college. Okay, why on earth would a parent scrimp and save their entire lives to put their children through college to then have to continue scrimp and save to put their grand children through daycare?! I mean as adults, shouldn't we take the responsibility of raising our families?

I realize that having children are not just for those flush with cash, I just feel that if you bring a child into the world, you should ultimately be solely responsible for the care of your child. I went to work fuming about it. I purposely waited to have Oliver. I got my education and then got myself gainfully employed just so that I could afford to provide for Oliver. Every month I write these big fat checks to daycare that I never begrudge, but then there are families in Oliver's daycare with children who are all subsidized. I've thought of every scheme to get subsidized daycare. Divorcing Crazy on paper would still make me over qualified for subsidized daycare. If I left my job, our income would still be high enough to keep subsidized daycare out of my reach. I need to get more creative.

To summarize, daycare for the middle class SUCKS.