Photo by Nemanja Mandic
As a first-time mom, the cost of early childhood education knocked the wind out of me. Prior to becoming a parent, I remember reading a few articles about mothers leaving careers because of the cost of childcare. But it wasn’t until I was a parent myself that I experienced the sticker shock of early childhood education.
Admittedly, my daughter and I are very blessed to have gone two years without professional childcare. My mother is a retired homemaker and has graciously served as my daughter's caregiver since I returned to work when she was just 4 weeks old. After two years of hanging out with Nana every day, we are now on a quest to find the perfect early childhood center for our daughter, which has been nothing short of overwhelming.
My daughter is starting school this August at nearly 3 years old. Because of her age, I decided to skip the traditional daycare and opt to research and find preschools that start with pre-K2 programs. I wanted her to be in a more school-focused environment, and if the school is a good fit, I want her to stay at the school for elementary. Thankfully, many schools (mostly in the private school network) now offer pre-K programs for 2-year-olds.
My quest for early childhood care started much like any research assignment in modern history, with my dear friend, Google. I Googled “early childhood education Memphis,” and tons of schools populated the screen. With so many options, how do I narrow my search? I decided to focus on what I thought would be beneficial for my daughter to learn during such a critical phase in her development and pinpointed the areas of focus that are important to my family.
My top five areas are:
- Play-based learning
- An intentional focus of the whole child
- Social development
- Foreign language
- Music
Next, I developed a school list based upon school websites and word-of-mouth that mirrored the areas of focus that I wanted to provide my child.
After developing my list, I visited all of those schools (seven in total). I understand the time constraints of being a working mother, but I refused to skip this step because this investment is too important for my child and my finances.
Depending on where you live and the quality of the preschool, average costs range from $4,460 to $13,158 per year ($372 to $1,100 monthly), according to the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA). Over three years, a family could spend close to $40,000 on early childhood education.
Locally, the schools of my choice ranged from $750 to $1,100 per month. This makes early childhood education the most expensive bill for our household. I quickly realized that our budget would have to adjust to accommodate this significant new budget item.
For financial planning,I chose to:
- Develop an additional stream of income
- Aggressively pay off debt
- Review and minimize monthly expenses (such as finding cheaper phone service)
- Strictly stick to a budget
- Save a few months of care cost ahead of time
As a parent, we all want to give our kids the best education that we can, but we also have to keep in mind that our child’s first teacher is his/her parent. The cost of early childhood education is a shocker, and you may not be realistically able to afford the school of your choice. Just remember that you can teach everything they are learning at this age at home. It is so important to develop your parenting philosophy for education and stick to the plan.
Carlissa Shaw is a local attorney and mother of one daughter, age 2.