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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Are you having to cut out day care, private school?
Daycare centers across the country are seeing children pulled out as their parents can’t afford to pay for it. How is the economy affecting your day care and school choices?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I am wondering how the economy is affecting your child care and other school choices. The Associated Press reports that parents having to pull kids from daycare centers because they can’t afford the care.
Here’s part of the AP story: “The nation’s economic troubles play out one family at a time at the New Horizons Learning Center in this struggling city two hours northwest of Chicago.”
“Some parents have been laid off and must pull their children out of the day care center until they can find a job. Others’ employment hours have been cut, so they reduce their kids’ attendance to a few days a week.”
“Financial strains prompt one mother to pay with a postdated check. Another chooses to work in the middle of the night — after putting her kids to bed — because of the extra dollar per hour that shift brings. And the stress shows on the faces of the children who can’t understand why their friends, without explanation, stop coming.”
” ‘They act out more, cry a lot more,’ said Diane Kesterton, director of New Horizons, where a 38-child enrollment has been halved to 19 in just three months. ‘They don’t know what’s happening, they’re confused.’ “
“Parents nationwide are telling day care providers they must scale back or abandon their services. Instead, they keep kids at home with grandparents or upend their work-life balance because gas and food prices have become prohibitive and average child care costs outpace rent and mortgage payments — even for those drawing salaries.”
Have your child care arrangements been affected by the economy? Have you switched to a relative for care? Has your child’s behavior been affected if he has had leave his normal routine and friends?
I’m also wondering if the economy is affecting other school choices for parents? Have you had to pull your kids from private school? Are you worried about for paying for private school next year? Are extracurricular classes off the table?
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