Child Care

Several people have asked me what we plan to do for child care. I've given a variety of different answers, but I suppose the real answer is that we don't have it figured out just yet. We'd love for Sara to be able to stay home full time, but that would require me getting a "real" job. And if I get a job it will make finishing my graduate work nearly impossible. The other option seems to be some form of child care.

The world of child care is a little daunting. Options are available through day care centers, nannies, "in home" day care, churches, and even the YMCA. Most of these places will only accept (or give preference to) children who will be at the facility full time. Most of these places have *really* long waiting lists. And most of them are very expensive.

To give you a feel for things, consider one place that we visited today. We went to the day care center affiliated with GA Tech. To use this facility, you must be affiliated with GA Tech or live in the neighborhood next to campus. Even with this restriction, there is a waiting list that is about 1.5 - 2 years long! GA Tech subsidies the cost, so if you are lucky enough to get a spot you will "only" have to pay $1050 / month for your child to stay there. But, the place looks really nice, so we are now on the waiting list.

We are also putting our names on waiting lists at a variety of other places, but the story looks about the same everywhere you go. So we will just have to wait and see where we get lucky enough to get a slot. In the mean time, we'll be looking for quarters in the sofa cushions and exploring additional options.