Of all the things that my wife and I have been able to help our kids out with providing daycare has been the most beneficial. Beneficial to them, and to us, and it really isn’t a very close race.
We were fortunate enough to help them through college. Three different paths through three different colleges. One went to a public college, one went to a private college and one did a little of both including a year at a music school and three years using NMC and its University Center. Luckily, our college tuition-paying days coincided with some of the most profitable of our small business.
When each of them got married we were able to kick in some money for the occasions. Nothing against those that enjoy a big fancy wedding, but I think they’d have all become just as married without our financial aid.
And when they bought their first homes we helped out as much as we could to help with their down payments. Real estate is all about timing, and our timing was perfect. They each purchased homes that have benefited from the local market price explosion. I say that to enforce the sense that our financial aid was as much of a great investment as it was a great help.
But day care is a completely different “investment.”
Lots of things had to happen to put us in position to help them out with day care. They live relatively close to our house, our schedules allow for collaboration, and we’ve all cooperated to make things work. It’s worked out for them financially because the cost of day care in America is approaching unmanageable. It worked out for us personally because we get to spend plenty of time with some great kids.
And while I’m talking about things getting worked out, I’m thinking about the day our daughter, son-in-law, and four grandparents met with home calendars in hand. We met in February because that’s when today’s families make summer month schedules for their kids. Mapping out strategies like a SEAL team preparing an assault and using a variety of avenues including a one-week long church camp, NMC’s College for Kids, and the flexibility and participation of everyone at the table, we managed to map out a plan. You’d have thought we were covering bases for two dozen kids when in reality it was just strategy for two youngsters.
Thanks to our granddaughter now entering kindergarten the day care planning has now been mostly contained to these summer months. Anyone with a child though knows the reality of the inevitable sick days and snow days and the scrambling that comes with them. Again, we have the tremendous blessing of both being nearby and flexible that many families do not have. I’ll never take that for granted.
So I repeat, that of all the things we’ve been able to help our kids out with; college, weddings, housing and all the rest, being able to pitch in to help provide day care has got to be the one with the most benefit. Hopefully, the kids will have fond memories of their times with us and benefit from the influences we’ve exerted their ways.
The way it spends its money says so much about what a country values, and that was once again made apparent with the passage of the recent and controversial congressional tax and spending bill. Prioritizing nearly everything except helping our younger families afford to care for their kids is not an effective answer to the problem.
I’m just glad we can be a small part of our family’s solution to it.