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My husband and I found ourselves with a surprise pregnancy when our two children were 10 and 12. At the time I was working full time as a nanny. By the end of the pregnancy I was working for the same family part time. I took off just under a month and went back to work for them part time, toting...Read more
Sandy, Washington
I am a single mother of young children and I am in law school with a degree from UW. But three years ago, a single set back destabilized my entire family. A single, and rare, support payment from the father of my children temporarily put me over the income limit for my childcare subsidy. Overnight...Read more
Angelica, Seattle, WA
I have two children who are 21 months apart. From the time that my oldest started in daycare at 6 weeks of age until the time that my son finished at age 5, we were in 9 different childcare settings. Everytime I thought they were both settled, a teacher changed or they moved to the next classroom...Read more
Anne, Washington
I shopped around quite a bit while I was pregnant with my first child and right after he was born. I checked online mommy groups for advice and drove around my neighborhood. The places I found were not very nice and the biggest red flag was that the kids did not seem happy at most of the places...Read more
Dawn
After about five years of paying for full-time child care that I couldn't afford, I had to remortgage the house to get out of the debt that I had incurred. I was working full-time out of necessity,and therefore paying for full-time child care of necessity. My husband lost his job when our son was...Read more
Anonymous
When my second child was born, my husband had saved up vacation time to take some time off to help out at home and get to know his new daughter. Instead, things got busy at work and his company required him to work overtime. I had postpartum depression and this made for a very difficult situation...Read more
Anonymous, Wisconsin
Emma is my 5-year-old. She was born weighing 1lb 3oz and was 11in long. She spent her first 4 months of life in the NICU. When she was born I was not given very much hope for her future. She has worked hard from the day she was born to prove the doctors wrong. Emma entered ECEAP [Early Childhood...Read more
Daree, Spokane Valley, WA
Like most Americans, I do not have paid family leave. I went into labor with my son when I was at work, almost two months before his due date. My son was born at 33 weeks, by emergency C-section, and spent a month in the NICU. I used all of my vacation and sick time to be with him daily. When that...Read more
Jonna Ashley, Denver
When my first child was about to enter preschool, we did not know what to do. We could not afford a private preschool but we also did not qualify for Head Start. We found out about a public preschool (Heritage Child Development Center) that sounded great so we called them up. They had a number of...Read more
Lisa
As a grandmother, I had the opportunity to see 1st hand the struggles of my daughter's trying to find trustworthy, affordable daycare for my grand children. My husband and I even picked up the cost of the $150-$225 weekly daycare so that my daughters could afford to work and contribute to the...Read more
Cheryl, Texas

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