Episode 8 – Caregiving Part 1: Daycare vs. Nanny

Today’s episode is part 1 of a 2 part series on caregiving. In this episode we will talk about some of the interesting statistics of caregiving and then get into pros and cons of daycare vs. nanny.

Some interesting statistics:

Caring for a family member or loved one is one of the toughest, most demanding, and, unfortunately, financially limiting jobs.

Every day, 40 million of our friends, neighbors and relatives help their parents, grandparents, relatives or neighbors with the daily activities of living, including dressing, bathing, cooking, shopping, and taking medication. The cumulative financial impact of this unsung and unpaid labor from loving volunteers is estimated at $470 billion per year – https://www.caregiver.org/caregiver-statistics-demographics

A caregiver—sometimes called an

informal caregiver—is an unpaid individual (for example, a spouse, partner, family member, friend, or neighbor) involved in assisting others with activities of daily living and/or medical tasks.

Formal caregivers are paid care providers providing care in one’s home or in a care setting (day care, residential facility, long-term care facility). – https://www.caregiver.org/caregiver-statistics-demographics

Relationships between Caregivers and Care Recipients

• A vast majority of caregivers (85%) care for a relative or other loved one:

• 42% care for a parent (31% for a mother, 11% for a father);

• 15% care for a friend, neighbor or another non-relative;

• 14 % care for a child;

• 7% care for a parent-in-law;

• 7% care for a grandparent or grandparent-in-law. [National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. (2015). Caregiving in the U.S.]

Parent care continues to be the primary caregiving situation for mid-life caregivers with 70% of the caregivers between the ages of 50 and 64. [Wagner, D. & Takagi, E. (2010). Health Affairs: Informal Caregiving by and for Older Adults.]

Most care recipients reside in their own home (48%), and one in three (35%) reside in their caregiver’s home. 3 in 10 care recipients who are not in assisted-living or skilled nursing facilities reside alone (31%). – https://www.caregiver.org/caregiver-statistics-demographics

Hours per Week

• Family caregivers spend an average of 24.4 hours per week providing care. Nearly 1 in 4 caregivers spends 41 hours or more per week providing care. [National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. (2015). Caregiving in the U.S.]

• Family caregivers who reside with those they provide care for spend 40.5 hours per week caring for this person.

• Those caring for a spouse/partner spend 44.6 hours per week performing caregiving tasks.

• Those caring for a child under age 18 spend 29.7 hours per week performing caregiving tasks. [National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. (2015). Caregiving in the U.S.] – https://www.caregiver.org/caregiver-statistics-demographics

Gender

65% of care recipients are female, with an average age of 69.4. The younger the care recipient, the more likely the recipient is to be male. 45% of recipients aged 18-45 are male, while 33% of recipients aged 50 or higher are male. [National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. (2015). Caregiving in the U.S.] – https://www.caregiver.org/caregiver-statistics-demographics

Gender and Care Tasks

Males may be sharing in caregiving tasks more than in the past, but females still shoulder the major burden of care. For example, while some studies show a relatively equitable distribution of caregiving between males and females, female caregivers spend more time providing care than males do (21.9 vs. 17.4 hours per week). [National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. (2009). Caregiving in the U.S.] – https://www.caregiver.org/caregiver-statistics-demographics

Perceived Burden of Childcare

 Mothers experience their children as differentially burdensome at different stages in the life cycle. Younger mothers’ perceived burden increases with each additional child, but older mothers are less affected by increasing numbers of children.

Employed mothers feel less burdened by their children than the nonemployed. – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12282415

The trends of Moms

WOMEN MAKE MORE MONEY – The percentage of women in the work force whose husbands are high earners has been leveling out since the late ’80s and ’90s for both women with children and women without. It also holds true across most age groups—from 21- through 53-year-olds—which suggests that young children aren’t a big factor.

LESS TIME OFF – In the past, the study’s findings show, childbirth seemed to push women out of the labor force in droves. From 1971–75, only about 20 percent of women were working again six months after the birth of a child. That trend has changed. From 2000–02, over 50 percent of women had returned to their jobs. Women also take less time off during pregnancy:

SLOWLY TRANSITIONING OUT OF THE WORKFORCE INTO SELF EMPLOYMENT LATER ON IN THEIR CHILDREN’S LIFE – The study also found that most weren’t actually leaving their careers. Instead, they started to slow them down, decreasing hours, shifting to part-time work, or becoming self-employed. – https://www.thenation.com/article/big-changes-impact-childcare-working-women/

PROS AND CONS of Nanny vs Daycare

What are your experiences? Share them below in a comment. 

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