The Hardest Part of Starting Kindergarten? Saying Goodbye to Daycare

My daughter is so excited to head to kindergarten this fall. She talks nonstop about picking out the perfect backpack and how big the playground will be at her elementary school. There was an audible squeal when she saw that the Easter bunny brought her her own lunchbox (equal squeals for the pink calculator). And thanks to reading the Junie B. Jones books, she can’t wait to board the school bus with some of the other neighborhood kids. But me? I’m a mess. 

I’m predictably sad that my daughter is growing up. Kindergarten feels like the final transition to the “big kid years.” But more so than that, I’m sad that going to kindergarten means our family will struggle more than ever with childcare. We’re trading financial struggles for stressful logistical struggles, and honestly, I’m not sure which one is worse.

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Dropping a daycare bill is exciting  

Don’t get me wrong, I am excited about dropping one of our daycare bills. My husband and I have two daughters, and the weekly daycare cost for both is $785. We live in Raleigh, North Carolina, and while there are definitely families that pay more than we do elsewhere, it still feels like a lot to pay.

That’s just over $3,400 that comes out of our bank account a month, or $41,000 for the year. By the time they’re both out of daycare, we’ll have spent over $200,000 on childcare, which makes me nauseous just thinking about it.

So the thought of instantly saving $1,700 a month when our oldest goes to kindergarten is exhilarating. Our family is getting a significant raise, and we’ll have more breathing room in our budget. But as positive as the monetary side of the transition to kindergarten is, the trade-offs are pretty stark.

Daycare provides substantially more childcare and other perks

Every daycare operates a little differently. We hit the jackpot with ours, though. The teachers are kind and have more than prepared my daughter for kindergarten with everything she needs.

Beyond that, though, the center is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day. That’s up to 60 hours of childcare a week for parents. My sister’s daycare runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., probably closer to the average daycare schedule, which still provides 45 hours of coverage.

There’s also no winter break, spring break, or summer childcare to have to worry about. And on top of that, the center provides breakfast, lunch, and a snack, and sends us regular updates throughout the day about what our kids are doing. 

It’s a lot to pay, yes, but the childcare is consistent and plentiful, and allows my husband and me to easily work a full day. Yes, our kids still get sick, but in the grand scheme of things, we don’t have to juggle a lot to make sure we have full childcare coverage during the week. That’s about to change in a drastic way.

“It’s a lot to pay, yes, but the childcare is consistent and plentiful, and allows my husband and me to easily work a full day.”

The school system isn’t set up for working parents

My husband is usually in charge of daycare drop-off. He’s typically out the door by 7:50 a.m., is dropping them in their classrooms by 8-ish, and is home by 8:20. While he’s doing the daycare run, I finish getting ready, often logging on to work by the time he’s back.

The kindergarten bus won’t pick my daughter up until 8:45. School starts at 9:15 and ends at 3:45, meaning one of us will need to meet the bus around 4. We’ll have to adjust our morning work schedules and figure out how to bridge the gap between school ending and work being done. Other elementary schools in the area start at 8:30 and end at 2:30, which is even worse for afternoon coverage.

Ours isn’t an uncommon problem, and regular social media posts ask the same question: how is this supposed to work? The short answer is, it doesn’t.

The school system isn’t set up to support two working parents. Because in addition to regular hours that don’t align at all with professional schedules, there’s a host of scheduled teacher workdays, unexpected closures, and breaks to contend with. And it has big consequences. As Catalyst reported earlier this year, over 455,000 women left the workplace in 2025, with close to half of those who left voluntarily saying the biggest reason they left was because of caregiver responsibilities. A lack of schedule flexibility was a big part of that.

I’ll savor our last little bit of daycare

There is a way to solve this problem, but it would require significant structural changes to the traditional 9-5 working schedule that’s at odds with school schedules. It’s unlikely that anything will change before my daughter heads to kindergarten this fall. 

So for now, I’ll savor the last little bit of daycare we have left. I’m sure I’ll cry on the first day of school, both because it’s my baby and because of what it means for our childcare moving forward. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elliott Harrell, Contributing Writer

Elliott is a mom of two little girls and is based in Raleigh, NC. She spends her days running a sales team and doing laundry and her nights writing about the things that she loves. She’s passionate about all things motherhood and women’s health. When she’s not working, writing or parenting you can find her trying a new restaurant in town or working on her latest needlepoint project.

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