[fatnoah]

It's telling that my first reaction to "~2k a month" in daycare expenses was that it seemed like a pretty good deal. My son's daycare 13 years ago was $2400/month.

It's even more telling that there's such a disparity in insurance. I think the entirety of pre and post natal care for my son cost us < $500 out of pocket.

I agree that money is a big factor. I graduated college in 1997 with a "large" amount of debt for the time, which was $35k. I was able to pay it off in about 7 years, while still living in a (very, very small apartment) in a city. My wife and I had a fun 4-5 years of living debt-free and enjoying life experiences before settling down and having a kid.

Between massive loans and skyrocketing housing costs, it's much harder for the younger generation to do those things as young as I was able to. I think people now are also more OK with prioritizing other life experiences and feeling less pressure to have kids.

The "time" part is very tough. We were incredibly fortunate to find a day care that was literally across the street from my wife's office. It didn't reduce days off or need for random pickups, but it did make things a little easier. I'd say that roughly 50% of PTO I've taken was for childcare related things.

[tomjakubowski]

> My son's daycare 13 years ago was $2400/month.

If you don't mind me asking, where was this? The average cost in California in 2009 was $940/month.

[fatnoah]

This was in Boston and for a full-time professional day care.