Photo by Kelli McClintock on Unsplash
By Rosita Escobedo
One of the hardest things for a parent to do is leave their child in the care of someone they don’t fully know. For those parents who have so much to juggle on their plate, like school and work, daycare is their best option. In her blog, “Scholars With Strollers: The Need to Provide On-Campus Childcare Services,” Alexa Wesley (2018) states that “one in four college students are parents with dependent children,” with over “40 percent” of them being single mothers. This means that many college students rely on daycares in order to pursue their education.
The most important thing for student parents is to find a place where they feel comfortable enough to leave their child for hours a day where they will be properly loved and cared for. After asking some parents what they looked for in every daycare they visited, the most frequent answers were warm and loving care providers, good structure, and cleanliness. These are all important to the success of any child’s life, but what exactly does daycare look like from the inside?
Early Educators/Care Providers
Quality care is hard to come by these days, and high student-to-teacher ratios make it difficult for each child to receive the attention they need. According to Maria Villazana, a teacher at an early learning center/daycare, she says she loves working with young children, but at times, it is difficult when “they all need something and [she] can’t be everywhere at once,” about the challenges she faces on a day to day basis. Villazana, on a typical day, has anywhere from nine to ten kids ranging from three to five years old.
The Parents
The most difficult thing parents say they have with daycares is finding a place that they feel they can trust the providers with their child’s life. Elena Brown, a parent of a 6-month-old boy named Mao, says she feels that she can trust her child’s care provider “because of how much she shows that she cares” for Mao. Brown says the teacher “does art projects” with the children for the parents to have. According to Brown, she says “most places wouldn’t put that much effort into caring for my child,” instead they would “do the bare minimum” by simply feeding, and cleaning them.
When asked about communication with her child’s care provider Brown said her son’s teacher gives them “enough notice about shortages in supplies such as diapers, sunscreen, and formula,” and that she is “good at telling [her] about how Mao’s day went” (the activities that happened throughout the day). Brown also says she “loves how flexible his schedule can be” in terms of what days he goes throughout the week based on her work schedule. Seeing as College students’ schedules can change, it’s nice to know your child’s provider can be flexible with their schedule.
Average Cost
Most student parents are working to provide for their child and likely to pay for their own tuition, but they are also expected to pay high amounts for good childcare. According to his article “Study ranks Washington as 6th for least affordable child care in US,” Jake Whittenberg (2019) says, “it costs an average of $14,844 for center-based infant care in Washington state. Compare that to the average cost of tuition at a four-year university which averages around $9,760,” for college students that is expensive on top of paying their regular bills which seems practically impossible.
Overall, childcare can provide student parents with good quality care for their children at the right price. The best thing a parent can do is to search all available centers in their area and ask all the questions they can think of. Centers are looking to provide care to your children, and if they have to answer a million questions for you to feel comfortable enough to entrust your child to them, they’re more than happy to because they know how hard it can be to leave your child for hours while you work.
