Caroline Parker-Greene is a British mother of two living in the US. She was a SAHM to her children, but recently started her own business and tangentially decided to put her two children in daycare “just a few days a week, just to give me a break,” she explains in the viral TikTok.
She goes on to list the prizes she received for day care:
$2,200 for her son
$1,800 for her daughter
And it was part-time at her selected daycare.
“No wonder so many women are stay-at-home moms in America,” says Parker-Greene.
Parker-Greene says she thought the UK and the US were “very similar.” Earlier she questioned why there are so many SAHMs in America when “everyone works in the UK”.
She goes on to explain that in the UK, when your child is 2 or 3, and depending on your family income, families get 15 hours of free childcare a week. And if your child is younger than that, families receive a 2.5% tax break.
Related: Stay-at-home moms are not OK
“No, women stay at home and they are depressed…K?” asked Parker-Greene.
She does the math to realize that, with childcare costing about $3,000, she understands why women in America don’t work and stay home with their kids.
“So does that just mean I won’t be able to work?” Parker-Greene says.
And Parker-Greene is not alone. Motherly’s 2022 State of Motherhood Report found that 46% of women left the workforce in 2021 due to the childcare crisis – the “daycare drought” was the No. 1 reason women changed or left their jobs last year. Of those surveyed, 59% of mothers said they were dissatisfied with their current childcare situation. What’s more: 33% of the women surveyed reported that childcare creates a constant financial strain on their family.
Related: The pandemic has exposed America’s child care crisis. Here’s what can help make it better
This is something my own family has experienced over the past year. Now that we had a one year old we explored many options for childcare including family (who traveled over an hour to watch our daughter) hiring a babysitter (DURABLE) before finally settling on a daycare entered (also expensive, but at least reliable.) We juggled – and still do between daycare and family – to find a childcare system that works for our family.
As a full-time working mother, I can confidently say that childcare carries the most weight on my shoulders.
“Like I said, I’m just unlocking all these new things,” Parker-Greene said, with one last eye roll in her viral TikTok. Which I couldn’t help but share.
METHODOLOGY STATEMENT
Motherly designed and administered this survey through Motherly’s subscriber list, social media and partner channels, resulting in over 17,000 responses creating a clean, unweighted base of 10,001 responses. This report focuses on the Gen X cohort of 1197 respondents, Millennial cohort of 8,558 respondents and a Gen Z cohort of 246 respondents. Edge Research weighted the data to reflect the racial and ethnic makeup of the U.S. millennial female cohort, based on U.S. Census data.
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