I have had great child care and I have had crappy child care and I have had no child care. I was young when I had my son and my mother and the child's father were very wishy washy about the support they provided. I tried to work and go to school. Child care is great if you only work Monday through Friday between the hours of 6 am and 6 pm. The problem is is that a lot of us have to work weekends, holidays, 2nd or 3rd shift in the real world;) I found out the state sponsored private in-home child care centers and looked all around. The child care centers that ran outside of regular hours I have found to be a little questionable. There was one provider that was so overweight she had to have oxygen with her 24/7 and could not hardly get off a couch. There was another who was in her 20's and already had 7 kids and she was a single parent! There was another who told me she could watch my child and when I called the next morning, she was nowhere to be found. I found one lady I thought was great and found out she had a rotweiller she had hiding in her basement! I have had to ask friends to help and their houses are not always child-friendly - but they do their best!;) This past year, the school I am at, although one of the best areas in Columbus, did not offer typical before and after school care. The after school care was full all year long for most of the schools in my district and I was 7th on the waiting list. They don't watch children on teacher's days, holidays, snow days, etc.. If I missed work all these days, I would not have a job! I called the school administration and was told by a lady on the other end that the childcare program worked great for her. Apparently, all that mattered was that her kids were well taken care of;) Point blank- I have no clue how people do it. None. Something desperately needs to be done about our child care in this country so that TRULY no child is left behind. No parent should have to go to work making $7/hour and worry about their child's safety. That is ludicrous! If we really don't want to provide children with food, shelter, clothing, safety.... then I think we need to think about more abortion clinics & teaching women the reality of being a parent in this country. Not all children are taken care of and our country is not open or willing to do so. Ironically enough, the state will have no problems spending a ton of money on imprisoning parents who fail to provide and paying foster parents to raise other people's children. I digress.....