More than 70% of families with younger-than-school-age children utilize childcare in America, including mine. We just switched the little angel from our beloved Emerald City in Kansas City, Missouri, to a new daycare in the suburbs, a new daycare that is expensive. We got on the waiting lists for other, less-expensive daycares, but this was the one we could find that met our standards and could take the little angel right away.

I’m an editor and my husband is a financial representative, and our salaries together afford us a decent living. It will be a challenge to swing the new daycare price hike, but we can do it. I doubt we could afford to put a baby in daycare there in addition to the little angel, though. Two children in daycare at that school would cost us around $1,800 a month, or $21,600 a year post-tax. For the little angel alone we pay $9,800 a year post-tax. I’m one of the lucky ones, though. For that expense I get a high standard of care and don’t have to go to work worrying my child is unsafe or ignored. I don’t have to choose between putting food on the table and putting my child in a questionable environment.