When we made the decision to have a third child there was no logic involved and the decision to have the second child was taken out of our hands entirely by nature causing the embryo of our first pregnancy to split and create a genetic clone. Set that aside for a second and the decision to have a third child was not a logical one.
We made the decision because we wanted to try for a girl and we had all the baby stuff anyway so why not have a third one. Now that we are almost a year into having three children and over two years into having two I want to tell you having children is really expensive in today’s America and we aren’t even paying what others do.
There are a lot of un-calculated costs families endure like going from a compact car that is paid off to a mini-van with a $500 a month lease or having to child proof the entire house. All those little things that add up and don’t even get thought about. Then there are the big things like childcare. Full time daycare can get expensive but averages right around $1600 per child. I think you can understand why we aren’t doing it for three children.
Politics is now making me extra mad, because everyone wants to talk about helping the average American family or doing things to secure the safety and security of the American family but then they do nothing. They are more concerned with protecting fetuses than living children.
Think for a second what it would mean if the average American family with a household income of $65,000 and 1.93 kids suddenly didn’t have to pay for childcare. For two kids that is an extra $3200 a month. I, of course, don’t know how a household income of $65,000 a year even comes close to affording daycare for two children. It is a mystery to me as to how anyone does it.
If we add in universal healthcare and student loan forgiveness we could be giving hardworking middle-class families back up to $46,000 of their hard earned money. Again I don’t think an average household income of $65,000 affords two daycares, student loans, and health insurance.
It makes me sad that none of our public servants bothers to take the time to get on the television and explain something so simple to the American people. These three things could put so much money in the average American’s pocket that it isn’t even funny. For those worried about themselves and not getting a piece of the action because they don’t have children or their children have outgrown daycare or they get health insurance through work or they’ve already paid off their student loans think about what it would do to the economy to give all these people more money to spend.
I know if I had this money to spend I might get a boat and my wife might get a horse or we’d combine efforts and get a boat that’s a horse or a horse that’s a boat. We could also start having my wife work again. Universal daycare could go a long way towards solving the current staffing shortage. It doesn’t make since for the average American family to send one household member to work to earn $30,000 a year to pay for $36,400 worth of childcare.
We need to do something and we need to do it fast. It is troubling that people are being priced out of the joys of parenthood. I am willing to bet money that if we were to resurrect any of the Founding Fathers they would be aghast that having a family isn’t considered a natural right. We can do better. We can care better. We can build a nation that does care for our children and helps parents to raise the best next generation possible.
David Huzzard Writes 