<story><title>Why Childcare Workers Are So Poor, Even Though Childcare Costs So Much</title><url>http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/11/childcare-workers-cant-afford-childcare/414496/?single_page=true</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>ef4</author><text>There is a basic assumption that people aren&amp;#x27;t questioning: that older children are useless in helping teach and supervise younger children.&lt;p&gt;This flies in the face of historical experience, and it robs everyone involved of opportunities for learning and growth. It is &lt;i&gt;nuts&lt;/i&gt; that we segregate children by birth year, all the way from preschool until college.&lt;p&gt;In a mixed-age setting, the older kids can do enough teaching, entertaining, and watching to significantly amplify a single adult&amp;#x27;s capabilities. To the point where much higher kid-to-adult ratios work just fine.&lt;p&gt;And far from taking something away from older kids by engaging them in this work, you actually give them valuable learning opportunities. You give them real responsibility to be proud of, an immediate motivation to master the things they&amp;#x27;ll be asked to teach, and a longer-term perspective on their own growth and life trajectory.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why Childcare Workers Are So Poor, Even Though Childcare Costs So Much</title><url>http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/11/childcare-workers-cant-afford-childcare/414496/?single_page=true</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>meric</author><text>Taxes. A person staying home looking after the kids and cleaning after them is not taxed. If that person goes to work instead and leaves their kids with a carer, the person has to pay income taxes, the carer will also have to pay income tax, the business have to pay sales tax, the premise the business is staying at will also pay tax on the collected rent. As soon as you outsource caring kids there are 3-4 more sets of taxes to pay. 20% from the person, 20% from the carer, 10% for the business sales tax and perhaps an additional 5% on the tax on rent. Every dollar spent on childcare, 50% goes to the government. The benefit of going to work has to be twice as good as staying home with the kids, as determined by economics. I haven&amp;#x27;t even begun to mention the intrinsic benefits of spending time with your children...</text></comment>