"I love it. I love the chaos. I love the freedom of the children learning. I even love changing the bums." Victoria Cook has worked as a childminder for more than 10 years. "We're not just babysitters - we're educators, carers, and part of the community," she said. "If we disappear, families lose more than just childcare, they lose choice."
A few days into our remodel, the living room turned into an indoor pond, ruining the hardwoods and drywall. With an adventurous toddler, we couldn't stay in an active construction zone. In March, our little family of three packed our bags and headed a few neighborhoods over to live with my father-in-law in the guest room his house. We're likely to be here until early December. Here are the pros and cons of our unexpected extended stay in our makeshift "studio apartment."
Working out is an integral part of my mental health and I truly think it helps me be a more patient mom who's able to handle the squabbles, irrational demands, and complaints that arise when my little boys are home. My husband has an erratic work schedule and we don't have family around to help watch the kids, so I rely on my affordable gym membership ($49 a month) to help me work out three-plus times a week.
Now, my dad and "Britney" now have a son who is a little under a year old. He and Britney are forever after me to take him for the afternoon or even most of the day, supposedly so we can form a sibling bond. I suspect they are trying to use me as free child care and have steadfastly refused, which has angered them to no end.
The old age pension is set to rise by €10 in Budget 2026 1,000 additional childcare places Vat rate expected to be cut to 9pc for the building of new apartments and homes €500 cut in student fees expected Mental-health crisis teams to staff A&Es Unlikely to be any cut in cost of childcare
The old age pension is set to rise by €10 in Budget 2026 1,000 additional childcare places Vat rate expected to be cut to 9pc for the building of new apartments and homes €500 cut in student fees expected Mental-health crisis teams to staff A&Es Unlikely to be any cut in cost of childcare A €10 euro increase in core welfare payments will be announced in tomorrow's Budget, as talks go down to the wire.
With just three claimed victims on its website, including preschool network Kido Schools, Radiant Group today gave a Minnesota hospital seven days to comply with its demands or risk having its data plastered online.
A few years ago, my husband and I turned to gestational surrogacy to grow our family. It could cost tens of thousands of dollars, so we wanted to lower our living expenses while saving for it. Meanwhile, my mother-in-law, who had lost her husband a few years back, was living alone in a four-bedroom house. "I have all this space and I would love to have you all so close," she'd said.
Per the Economic Policy Institute, childcare for one infant in the U.S. costs more than public college tuition in 38 states. That, plus the reality that many people work remotely, makes the idea of a space that mixes childcare, coworking, and fitness needs appealing to parents. That's especially true in a world where more remote work means people are parenting more in bubbles than in villages.
Criminals calling themselves Radiant hacked Kido nursery chain and posted profiles of 10 children online on Thursday. On their website on the dark web - a part of the internet accessed using specialist software - they have shared a "Data Leakage Roadmap" saying "the next steps for us will be to release 30 more 'profiles' of each child and 100 employees' private data".
My husband and I love kids, and we had always planned to have our own. But now we're in our early 30s and have realized kids are probably not in the cards financially-unless we can get some child care help from my in-laws. My husband and I have the regular problems everyone has: crushing student loans and inability to afford more than a one-bedroom apartment.
My in-laws are obscenely cheap and often keep food that has expired well beyond the "best by" date. I wouldn't care about this, except my kids go over there after school, and I never know how fresh the food they are being served is. We rely heavily on my in-laws to watch our kids during the school year while we are at work.
After joining the ranks of the " overemployed" in 2021, John, a millennial software engineer based in California, earned as much as $300,000 annually working multiple full-time remote roles. The extra income boosted his earnings to over $300,000 a year, allowing him to grow his savings and splurge on things like a roughly $9,000 honeymoon with his wife. "I figured I'd give it a shot," John told Business Insider in 2023.
A creche which decided it was "not prepared to take responsibility" for a two-year-old girl after she was diagnosed with a severe nut allergy has been ordered to pay her €3,000 in compensation for disability discrimination.
The preschool and community center-a $3 million renovation project which just held an opening celebration in early August and will begin operations in early September-fills a void in most homeless housing and service centers. Services for children and families remain very hard to come by, preventing many single parents and families that are unhoused from transitioning to a more stable and secure housing situation. The Betty Bazaar Center is the first state-licensed childcare center to open adjacent to homeless housing.
The ultimate set-up is a large suite or chalet-style space within a hotel, with your own lounge area. Are the balconies safe? Ostensibly a strange question, but I continually see furniture placed next to balconies (a hazard for excitable children when heads are turned) and swiftly pull it right back or even into the bedroom. I always ring up ahead and check that the bathrooms aren't clad in slippery marble floors, and if so, if they provide several rubber mats.
If you have spent time with an infant, you might recognize the scene: A child is wailing, inconsolable, and you, the parent, have to go to the bathroom. Or eat. Or attend to a pot that's boiling over. But someone needs to watch the baby. Such urgent situations often call for innovation. In modern times, we might negotiate schedules with our partners, seek out affordable child care, or purchase "baby-tainment" contraptions via our phones.
Kate stated, "Providing for 8 kids, college funds which I am proud to say covered all of their college and more and LAWYERS. Sickening but I was drug into court constantly and that costs A TON."
"I've been increasingly shocked by what she sends him to my house with for lunch. This is now: a sausage roll ... 2 bags of crisps ... chocolate biscuits, cake bars and most recently Jaffa cakes."
In France, affordable play schemes are available for children during the summer, offering supervised activities and meals for as little as 9 euros, making childcare accessible.
Jenna found support through local family support services, essential for breastfeeding advice and creating a playgroup for her son, reaffirming her parenting journey.
