Children are worth it - almost all the time

With my wife going back to work in early February after our second child, a rather large expense began. We were paying $55 / month for one child 3 times a week, which worked out to $660 for a full month. The nice thing about teaching, though, is that there are frequent days off, and rarely did we have to pay the full amount each time.

Anyway, with two kids, the price jumped to $80/day, still three days a week. I try to spread out my sick and personal days so I can stay home as much as possible, but it doesn't work out to too many days. There has been better news since September, though. The money we were paying was considered "under the table", but now our daycare provider (our friend) is willing to claim the money as income so we can take the deduction on our taxes. Since September, that's $3500. That's about $800 added to our refund for next year - nice!

On a less financially related note, we've been very happy to have our girls go to a private home instead of daycare. Our children have received very close attention, we're sure, and the extra expense has been worth it. When we don't send them (day off, vacation, summer), we don't get charged. Finally, our friend who is watching them now has two daughters the same age, so basically they have a playmate all day and enjoy going. Good situation, all around, except I wish it was cheaper.