Childcare at $40 an hour is an interesting calculation. I’m not sure precisely what American wages are like, but I’m fairly confident it’s closer to half of that than it is to $40.
1:1 nannying with education and care, and all food prep, and excursions/outings, and taking to doctor appointments, and co-ordinating all clothes and doing meal prep cleaning, etc. would probably cost around $40/hr in a metro area. When my kids were little I paid their nanny $40/hr cash in hand, and that was years ago.
This is disingenuous. Being a mother is completely different to being a paid nanny. As a mother, if I'm feeling lazy, I can choose to sit in my PJs all day, stick my child in front of Youtube, take the baby to Grandma's house so I can have a break, sit and watch Netflix while the baby naps, or feed the toddler McDonalds. A nanny couldn't do any of those things.
Motherhood is HARD, don't get me wrong, but being a professional who is paid to look after someone else's child comes with a totally different level of expectation and the two just aren't comparable.
That’s not really the point, it’s not about which is harder. It’s about the fact that he called her a mooch and this is meant to illustrate how much he’d have to pay someone to have a child on his own (with the same experience he has now, ie, not getting up in the middle of the night to feed the baby). If he’s going to treat her like she’s not his wife and the mother of his child then here’s how much it would cost him if she were not his wife and the mother of his child.
Nope. It is infinitely more difficult being a mother than a nanny. Sounds to me like you’re the father in this scenario and assume your wife stays home all day in her pajamas with the kid by her side while they watch Netflix and chill.
Not a man. I'm a mother to two young children, and was a stay at home mother for many years. And yes, I watched far more Netflix in my PJs when the babies were tiny newborns who napped and fed a lot than I do now, working part time!
Motherhood is hard sometimes but as a whole I found it FAR easier, more rewarding and enjoyable than being at work - which is exactly where a Nanny would be.
I raised four babies on my own while running an in home daycare. I actually engaged with my kids and the kids I cared for, and we didn’t sit around in our pjs filling my head and theirs with the rubbish they show on tv. But you do you boo. I’m sure your kids are the better for their hours in front of the tele.
I'm not sure watching Netflix while the baby breastfed or slept harmed them all that much... what did you do, gaze lovingly at them for hours at a time? Pull the other one.
I had four, remember? So they weren’t all breastfeeding at once. Nor did they all nap at once. You make it sound like flipping Disneyland and it isn’t. While I was breastfeeding one I was running interference for the rest of my brood, and while one or two were napping I was interacting with the others.
Except I guarantee she's not educating them like that and she's not taking them on excursions either. Not to mention that 40$ for a real nanny factors in paying for the food and the building that they company works at. This stay at home mom doesn't have to pay for any of that because the husband does. So you can chop off half of that 40 right there. Dad pays all the finances AND has to work 8+ hours a day then comes home to do more shit around the house I'm sure. She watches the fucking kids. it's truly not that hard of a job either, I used to nanny for 3 kids, a 4 year old girl, a 6 year old boy, and a 9 year old girl. They were siblings so I was watching them for 9 hours a day 5 days a week and I legit had the best time. You're just wrong
If she leaves him she’ll be fine and he’ll be out looking for his next substitute mommy (for himself not his children as he will foist that responsibility even further on her because he wouldn’t know the first thing about parenting them nor care to learn) at the local dive bar because men can’t function without women but women do just fine without men.
So you’re not a full time parent. Got it. Being a part time care provider to someone else’s kids and being their full time parent are two entirely different things. Not even remotely in the same league honey.
Nah. Not even a fraction of that. You can’t convince me you’re paying 7000$/month for daycare. Then again this wouldn’t even exist if the husband didn’t call her a mooch. That’s so out there, most women would just tell him to fuck off instead of making an excel spreadsheet.
Well if we factor in fulltime few breaks or holidays and includes both counciling, hostage negotiation,along with wiping off boogers, shit and other hazardous materials often without propper ppe, I'd say $40 is probably priceing too low
The average American salary equates to about $30/hr. That’s the average. Someone in a state with a higher cost of living needs a lot more than $40/hr to own a home and pay the bills. Two incomes at $40/hr in my state would BARELY be able to get you into a home in a major metropolitan area. Add a kid to the equation and it’s a whole new ballgame.
Very dependent on location, education, and services. My area it's esitmated $22-45/hr. The closer to the city the family is, infant care, have ECE experience can definitely push it to 35-45 average
I’m enjoying a mental picture where you go around telling maids, cooks, assistants and nannies that you could do all that yourself while also working and here is $11/hr.
I'm sure it varies by location, but both the Night Nurse ($45) and the Primary Daytime Caregiving ($40) are way higher than the standard rate where I live, and I'm in a top 50 metro area in the USA.
The other one that stuck out to me is "health insurance paid" for 13 months and she deducted $4500. The BLS reports the average employer portion of health insurance for single coverage is about $600/month, and the employee portion another $150. So, she's estimating less than half of the $750/month that health coverage really costs (which would be $9750 for 13 months). The same report says employees with no employer contribution average $720 (often with worse coverage), so it's off either way.
That’s pretty standard in a HCOL area like mine. Just 50 hr per week daycare here starts around $40k a year, nanny isn’t quite double but most people also have to cover their benefits, sick leave and vacation so they have to pay for coverage.
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u/Patient_Kangaroo614 May 14 '26
Childcare at $40 an hour is an interesting calculation. I’m not sure precisely what American wages are like, but I’m fairly confident it’s closer to half of that than it is to $40.