ROCHESTER, N.Y. — For many new families, it's the first summer that parents aren't working from home and that means it's the first time they're choosing childcare.
"Twelve weeks old and I’m shipping my kids off to school and have to go about my day thinking that everything’s OK," said parent Katy Huey.
It can be an overwhelming decision for parents like Huey.
“A lot of anxiety. A lot of crying. It was definitely weird. It was how to navigate through that with COVID, especially having babies, you know, we didn’t want them to get sick,” Huey explained.
She's a mom of a 2-and-a-half-year-old and an 8-month-old. Choosing child care was a difficult decision for her and her husband, but they knew they wanted to give the kids the social life of going to daycare.
“We wanted just that separation, you know, prepare them for when they go to kindergarten years down the road,” she explained.
Huey says childcare is a pricey decision her family had to get used to.
“I can’t go to Kohl’s or Target, you know. Target, you go in for one thing and you come out with 50 things. So you have to really like, prioritize and itemize a lot of things and what the kids actually need,” she said.
According to the 2022 Child Care Market Rate Survey, for someone with an infant and a toddler, the daily cost of child care could be as low as $39 per day. The Department of Labor says the average New Yorker receives at least two weeks of vacation time a year. So that math can lead to annual childcare costs of nearly $10,000 per year for families like the Hueys. That's more than the tuition of most state community colleges.
“Expenses? Yep, daycare ... it is expensive,” Huey said.
Child care costs are something Stephanie Lucas can sympathize with. Lucas is the owner and director of Home Away From Home Childcare Center. In her role, she's able to give some parents the wiggle room they need.
“Honestly, I’m probably one of the cheaper daycares," said Lucas. "I’m under market value, which is harder obviously to keep employees and hire employees. We do a really good job at that, but it’s give and take, right? So I’m one of the cheaper ones, but I also provide care that’s exceptional.”
Lucas loves time with the kids. At her facility, she oversees dozens of children and their parents. She says she's on a first-name basis with each family member.
“I just fell in love with it, but I wanted to be able to do things my way, really be there for parents in ways that you can’t really do when you work for a corporate daycare,” Lucas explained.
Parents agreed her daycare center provides families with another co-parent. She has 10 years of experience, a love for children, and a talent for talking to parents.
"It’s normal to feel anxious. It’s normal, it’s OK to cry. I’d say parents have a harder time than the kids do, which is why I really like to just message them throughout the day, send pictures, make sure they’re doing all right,” she explained.
Huey appreciates that availability.
"That just shows how much they invest in our boys, how much they are here for the kids. So I absolutely loved that,” Huey said.
It's support like that provided by Home Away From Home Childcare Centers that goes a long way to calm the nerves of new parents and help with financial stability.
“I’m also very flexible with parents and I understand everyone goes through hardships. Like I said during COVID ... I had parents that were getting discounts and they’ll make up for it. You know what I mean? I’m not going to make them do anything crazy that they can’t do. They need care. They need to work. It was a hard time, if I can afford it financially, I will,” Lucas explained.
She said she adjusts to the needs of parents while they adjust to their newfound parenthood.
“That just makes me feel so much safer,” Huey said.