As families prepare to welcome babies into their lives, one topic that inevitably has to be sorted out is child care.
Whether or not parents work outside the home, at some point they will have to turn to someone else to help watch their children. Will it be in a day care center or at home? Will a family hire a nanny or share a babysitter? And then, course, how will each family pay for it?
To dive into this issue, All Things Considered co-host Michele Norris gathered a group of parents (and one grandparent) at NPR's headquarters to talk about the logistical and emotional challenges of child care. (The conversation airs tonight on All Things Considered). All of them are from the Washington, D.C., area, where the cost of living is quite high.
Meet the parents and caretakers:
The group talked about how to deal with the inevitable complications parents face when working outside the home — the scramble for backup caretakers, unplanned business trips, sick children.
Ferguson says she called herself the "worst mother in the world" when she dropped her sick daughter off at camp recently. "But I had to go to work," she says.
And once at their jobs, the parents say they don't want others to know how much juggling goes into their home lives. So they don't talk about how difficult and scary it is.
Driscoll says she left her job as an attorney in 2007 because she felt like she would have no support from her employer when she had a family. A male partner even told her she couldn't "do both."
And for those who stay in their jobs, there's the risk of discomfort or guilt that their children could get closer to someone else.
"I spend maybe about 10 to 12 hours a day away from my child," says Tilghman. But she says she finds comfort in the fact that someone else cares about her child.
The group had a lot more to say — the full audio of the conversation on All Things Considered will be available at the top of this post. What's clear is that whether you stay at home or work outside it, there's guilt, exhaustion and many decisions to be made. What thoughts do you have about the juggling act? Share your story in the comments.
Part 2 of this conversation — the dollars and cents of childcare and advice from the in-house group — will air tomorrow onAll Things Considered
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