Childcare Nightmare

I'm a working mom. It's awful. However, I have no choice. I have yet to accomplish my dreams of writing the next great book series like the Harry Potter series, so until then I must go to work. My daughter is of course, in a daycare program and while they suck almost every last dime out of my pocket to basically expose my daughter to every disease imaginable, they are not open on weekends. I'm not required to work on weekends. Only if I want to eat. The loop of constantly trying to find a babysitter so that I can go to work travels around and around. It's a never-ending horrible cycle.

My stepmom recently asked me why I never ask my friends to watch her. My immediate reaction was to say "What friends?" But that's not fair. I have pretty outstanding friends. There are three people that watch her all the time for me. I don't really consider them friends though; they've always been more like family. I can't ask them to watch her all the time though. They do have their own lives, own jobs, own things they need to get done in their free time. They help when they can of course and that's really more than I can ask. I feel bad asking most of the time. Mostly because I feel like I never have time to just spend with them and then suddenly I'm at their door asking them for their help.

I know, I'm not the only parent with these struggles. Most single, working parents have a struggle with childcare. Most of us don't like to pay to be at work but if you want to find a sitter on a website like care.com, it'll cost you forty dollars just to message someone. And as much as I love craigslist for finding furniture and shit, it's not really a prime spot to find childcare. The endless loop continues. You turn to ask other parents who they use, but when you call their awesome recommendation, they can't come to babysit for you because they are already babysitting for your friend that recommended them. It honestly is the worst never-ending cycle in parenthood existence.

You may ask yourself, well, yes, daycare is expensive but most states offer childcare help for families who can't afford it while they're working. Yes. Yes, they do. Let me ask you this though, have you ever tried applying for financial help through the state? Because it is the most colossal pain in the ass. They are not helpful. I've tried. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Maybe I'm being honest and you're not supposed to be. I'm not really sure but I do know that I took two days off work to try to get help with childcare and they shot me down. Twice. Apparently, I should be able to find a job during the hours that my child is already at daycare (that I am still paying in full for) and that pays enough that I don't have to work weekends. I'm not saying there aren't jobs like that, there are. They are just all occupied. Believe me. I've been looking.

This article was inspired because I am leaving my job. I am leaving my job for another job with more normal hours. Let me be clear, I love my current job. If I could stay, I would. But I can't. I can't afford to stay. However, even with this new job, with more normal hours, I'm still going to have to find a sitter. My problem has not completely gone away. It hasn't even gotten a little bit easier. Obviously, I'm working on it. I'll continue to work on it.

All I'm trying to say with this article, is when did babysitting become a $20/hour job? When did finding a high school kid who wanted to make some extra cash become so hard to do? Was this something my dad struggled with? Because I don't remember that. He always seemed able to find a babysitter. It shouldn't be this hard. I rely on my parents, way more than I should, to watch my daughter and I know I'm not the only one. I don't want to call my friends to ask if they can watch my daughter. I want to call my friends and tell them I found a babysitter and was still able to afford to take a night off work to go grab dinner. Childcare shouldn't be this difficult, or this expensive. Someone tell me I'm not the only one who believes this?