Apparently, the economy is sooooo bad that when people lose their jobs, they can't afford to keep their kids in day care.

I saw this headline today....

Struggling families drop day care

Huh?

After losing her job as an administrative assistant, Josselyn Gorman says she had no choice but to pull her 9-month-old son, Cody, out of full-time day care.

It was a difficult decision, she said, because Cody thrived at Rhymes and Reasons Nursery and Preschool in Farmington Hills. But she and her husband needed that $210 a week for more pressing expenses, such as groceries.

Gorman is now home to take care of her son while she looks for another job.

So let me make sure I've got this right. You lose your job and now have time to take care of your kid at home but yet this is somehow the downside of losing a job?

Am I losing my mind?

First, I've often noted that if people did the numbers they would find that second wage earner doesn't pay when you factor things like day care expense.

For instance, let's assume the lesser wage earner in a family makes $15/hr. The gross pay is $600.00/wk. After tax, this income will be somewhere around $400.00 - $500.00 a week.

Now you are going to $210.00 a week in day care. That leaves you with $200-$300 in take home pay. Not much left to pay for the increased expenses you incur with a second wage earner (things like cars, gasoline, work clothes, etc.).

In my mind, what remains doesn't amount to much in comparison to what you lose, time with your child.

Second, I would think that keeping your kid out of day care would be a positive if you lost your job. You know that whole lemon/lemonade metaphor.

Once again, it's no wonder newspapers are losing money. They can't even come up with a good bleeding heart story.

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