Paying for Childcare

I was on a parenting website yesterday and read a comment from a woman who said paying for childcare defeats the purpose of working.  She had a friend take care of her baby a couple of days a week so she could work.  Her point was that if she didn't have that free childcare it wouldn't be worth working becaue all the money she made would go towards paying for the care of the baby.

It's an interesting dilemma that many moms face when they decide whether or not to go back to work.  Many are lucky, in that they have relatives who can take care of their baby and money doesn't enter the equation.  But most of us are not in that situation and the question becomes, is it worth it?  That obviously, is a personal decision that each working mom has to make. 

But to say that paying for childcare defeats the purpose of working is unfair at best, and demeaning at its worst.  Many women have to use their whole income to pay for childcare because they want to keep a foot in the working world.  It's a fact of life that if you take 10 years off to raise kids, it's harder to get back into the workforce.  Many women know that they will need, or want, to work as their children get older (afterall, college isn't free!).  In order to do that, sometimes paying for childcare means you're just breaking even when it comes to working.  But the greater gain is down the road.

For others, soemtimes easing back into the workforce on a minimal schedule is what works for them, knowing that they will build up again as their child gets older.  Obviously you're not going to make as much on a minimal schedule and you still need to pay for childcare.  Again, the gain is down the road.

Paying for childcare does not defeat the purpose of working and anyone who thinks it does is making a sweeping generalization that is intensely unfair.