to be so peeved that we spend approx £1400 a month on childcare

[couture1]

I know I have to pay for the service but it leaves me with little left over each month and we need to salaries to get by. I dont want to give up work as 1 cant afford to and 2 Im hoping that when 3dc are at school in 3 years time we will be better off each month - but how do we manage until then?

Rant rant rant

Sounds sensible to me, Clara. But I'm no economist either.

For what it's worth, the chief executive where I work wants HR to implement a policy to hire MORE working mothers as he thinks you get much more out of them. I realise this is sexist and can't be done, but has made me think.

I thought I was the only one with children on ice? I love mumsnet - the things you learn eh? So has anyone else left their 2 year old with a chicken called Colin whilst they zipped over to New York to buy shoes?

assuming all necessary consumption is avaricious bugs me

where is colin? he sounds good. I hope the payment is chicken feed - leaves more for jimmy choos.

annie, yes i have a child, no i don't work and no i am not rich.

yes i do think childcare should be more expensive, mainly to pay for decent childcare workers.
and no i do not think its down to the goverment to subsidise parents to pay for someone else to look afetr their babies.
they should pay for it themseleves.

Actually maybe you're right, I will stay at home with the central heating off, no electricity (and no mumsnet ) and eat boiled rice for a few years so I can nurture my children correctly.

why didnt someone tell me putting kids in fridge slows down growth? i could of saved a fortune on new clothes

Oh yes, northernlurker - although I find chickens too nurturing frankly. I leave DD with next door's fish - they're even teaching her to swim.

That farking Colin promised me it would be a 1:1 ratio. And now I find our he's got yours too?

yes their wee blue faces look so cute.i can hear em scrathing fridge door for brief time (until they are immobilsed that is)

That's chickens for you, Martha. And bet he doesn't even take childcare vouchers.

Bloody chickens! I should have paid extra for swans

Ah, I'm enjoying this so much more now there are more people on my side and we're more evenly matched !

I had to resort to a medicinal glass of wine earlier over some of the posts - as I said, I'm going back to work on Monday, but sadly full-time rather than the part-time I'd like. In the interview they said they were flexible... in reality... not so much! Career-wise it's too good an opportunity to miss and a maternity cover contract so not forever. But I'm in absolute bits about leaving my just-started-reception-only-turned-4-two-weeks-ago DD1 in after-school care and my 18mo DD2 in a nusery I can only describe as adequate. Full-time is something I swore I'd never do.

Still, I'm going to work on them from the inside to reduce my hours, and DD2 moves to a much nicer nursery for 2 days a week in two months....

But I'm in far too fragile a place to take the comments on here with the pinch of salt they deserve.

Anyway, as much fun as it has become I need to clean the kitchen, take the dogs out and get myself off to bed....

god thing is you can eat colin.authorities take dim view of..........of well never mind

scottishmummy

people forget not having children is a perfectly viable option.

you don't HAVE to have children

it really seems that SOME people either didn't really wantchildren or where not really ready when they did have them....

Are we getting to the root of the problem? Good childcare workers get eaten (with bread sauce and stuffing if appropriate)

Crikey - I know the working mother is supposed to be a vicious bitch who'll stop at nothing but that seems a bit harsh. Although if the ofsted report is disappointing...

Annie - it will be fine. I work full time, my kids are fine, I'm fine, dh is fine - it's all good. Just take it day by day, rejoice in the good, roll with the bad and don't let the bastards grind you down!

If I was paying this much out in childcare and only having a little left over I would choose not to work and look after my children myself. Surely the stress and hassle is just not worth it for so little reward?

Fleabie are you talking about any "people" in particular

one presumes you will elucidate with evidence based research, peer reviewed studies, oh and a witty observation

No?thought not

just talkin oot your arse then

annie i hope everything goes ok with your new job.

"little reward" for echofalls = fuel bills paid at Farquhar Towers.

i once had a parent who remembered to take their childs diary home but forgot their child lol. And it took me a good 5 minutes to realise

Annie - me too. You will get reduced hours eventually when they realise they can just pay you to do a full time job in three days.

I couldn't give up work. It would have too much of a detrimental effect on this country...

Fleabie - and SOME people's lives don't revolve around their children. We're all different.

Ooh, I've got one idea to help either reduce childcare costs or help pay the staff better - get rid of all the poncey extras nurseries seem to feel the need to have now... French lessons, Jo Jingles, organic food... FFS!! WHY WHY WHY? Just a reasonable variety of decent toys, square meals, outside playtime, a messy craft here and there and lots of cuddles when they need it... that's what they'd get a home and that's all they need at nursery.

SM, personally I feel that couples that put babies into ft childcare purely for the reasons they love the job and don't need the money.
are not, at best, ready for children.

there's plenty of reserch out there why childcare is not suitable for unders 3s.
try looking at the rowntree report or biddulps research...