Ever since the feminist uprising of the 1960s, most American women have been forced to abandon their traditional roles as stay-at-home moms.
The rise in inflation and the cost of living has made it a necessity for most families to have two incomes.
Increasingly, unless there is a trusted family member present, the children of working moms are in a childcare setting during the week.
And many American families struggle in making the decision to either pay the ever-rising costs of outside childcare or lose a much-needed second income.
The average cost of child daycare per week in America is skyrocketing, with many families calling it their largest monthly bill.
CNN Money reported:
The average cost of full-time daycare for kids up to the age of 4 has reached $9,589 a year, according to a new report from the think tank New America. That now tops the average cost of in-state college tuition, which runs about $9,410.
That means parents earning the national median household income (a little north of $53,000) would need to shell out 18% of their income for the care of just one child.
The younger your child, the higher your bill. Infant care costs about 12% more than toddler care. It ranges from a low of $6,590 a year in Arkansas, or 15% of median state income; to a high of $16,682 in Massachusetts, or about 25% of median income there.
And, of course, the lower your income, the higher your level of stress over footing the bill. Minimum wage workers, on average, will have to fork over nearly two-thirds of their pay for child care.
Having a nanny at home will cost far more – an average of $28,353 a year. Put another way, that’s more than half of U.S. median household income, 188% of the income for a single minimum wage worker or three times the cost of average in-state college tuition.
President Trump campaigned on issues that would help American families, especially the working middle class.
His proposed child care plan would assist working families in making the expense of childcare a bit easier to bear.
From Donald J. Trump’s New Child Care Plan:
* The Trump plan will rewrite the tax code to allow working parents to deduct from their income taxes child care expenses for up to four children and elderly dependents.
*The Trump plan would create new Dependent Care Savings Accounts (DCSAs) so that families can set aside extra money to foster their children’s development and offset elder care for their parents or adult dependents. These new accounts are available to everyone, and allow both tax-deductible contributions and tax-free appreciation year-to-year-When established for a minor, funds from a DCSA can be applied to traditional child care, after-school enrichment programs and school tuition-contributing to school choice. To help lower-income parents, the government will match half of the first $1,000 deposited per year
*Mr. Trump’s plan will provide regulatory reform to promote new family-based and community-based solutions, and also add incentives for employers to provide child care at the workplace. The ability to set aside funds will be particularly helpful to women, low-income workers and minorities, who are statistically more likely to reduce time working outside the home in order to provide unpaid care.
*The Trump plan will guarantee six weeks of paid maternity leave by amending the existing unemployment insurance (UI) that companies are required to carry.
Most American families will tell you the largest source of tension in their day-to-day lives are financial concerns.
And it appears that the cost of childcare for young children will only continue to increase, with the burden becoming significant with more than one young child in the family.
In creating new solutions to the childcare issue, President Trump has vowed to reduce the stress on the American working family.