I tracked down the transcript and I still don't understand the math here:
> GUO: In a month where they're bringing in, like, $40,000, $33,000 is going to payroll.
> ANDERSEN: Our salaries are 83% of our budget per month. That is absolutely insane.
> GUO: And this is pretty representative of the country. And for thinking, well, at least day care workers are getting paid well - right? - because most of the money is going to salaries. Well, they are not paid well. Kelsey pays 12 to $15 an hour.
>But Kelsey says she can't pay as much as those stores because she has more people to pay than they do. For Kelsey's 72 kids, she needs 25 people on staff
I guess this just shows my ignorance, but is a 1:3 kid-parent ratio the norm for day care? I know you can't automate child care like you can a cashier, but given that my grandparents raised 4-5 kids at any one time (they had like, 10 kids between one previous marriage each, but huge age gaps), and my uncle raised 3 himself (and sometimes My mom dropped me off with him. So 3.5), it seems very "inefficient" when considering this is only caring for a third of the time (as opposed to a 24/7 care as a stay at home parent).
>The safety of kids and the quality of care get a little more dicey if you have more than four infants to one teacher. So you just need a lot of grown-ups to take care of babies and even toddlers.
I guess a day care has a higher quality stay than my uncle since it mentions teaching. I guess it's tough to just throw your child at someone you don't trust who may do it for cheap, so there's pressures to not just be "my uncle's house" (not that he's a bad parent. But I was mostly there to play with my cousin and be fed lunch/dinner).
But when you remember the perspective of a school teacher teaching 20-40(!) kids at once for even less money, it makes you feel like something is off. Probably in the case of the teachers, but still.
>But we wouldn't leave 16-year-olds alone. In fact, we don't really leave anyone alone.
tangent but I'm really baffled by this sentiment. Like, I wouldn't leave the country for months with a 16YO, but by 16 I would feel they can operate for a few days without seeing a parent. Just make sure they have allowance to cover food. That's an age where they need to start operating independently anyway since they are potentially close to living alone in college, or moving out a few years into adulthood.