Hi everyone

Looking for some info on the costs of child care for my 4 year old, just 1 or 2 days per week if that's possible.

For the Calgary area, hoping someone can shed some light on one of our many queries

Cheers
Wayne

My wife used to child mind in Edmonton, and she charged $50 a day.
Have a look on kijiji under "day homes" and see what the going rate is, but I would suspect it's fairly similar.

****. The $160 a week we pay for our eldest, looks good value in comparison!

****. I daren't tell you what some people charge in Vancouver

I would say its close to a $100 a day now a days

Dont have kids buy a pet I believe catteries and kennels cost less than daycare
Its supply and demand isnt it. You have a job but you need daycare so you end up paying whatever the going rate is providing you can find a space or a reputable place.

Not necessarily.
We spend $30 a day for boarding our dog when we go away.
At $150 a week, it's cheaper than the $160 quoted by Atlantic Xpat for childcare.

We are in NW Calgary.

I don't really know about part time, but for full-time care you are looking at anywhere from $600 a month (if you are lucky) upwards to sky is the limit.

We were paying around the $900-$1,000 mark for full-time licensed daycare for a 2/3 year old. They charge $50 a day for a drop-in spot but space is subject to availability (good in the summer though as lots of the regulars are on vacation).

The prices between day homes and day care centres in some areas don't seem to vary that much, but it depends on demand for places I guess.

Its a little more difficult (but not impossible) to get a part time place in a day care as they often only take full-time kids so you have to find someone to share a spot with and work it out between yourselves. Day homes are a little easier to get part time care.

If you can get into preschool its much cheaper but most only do two/two and a half hours for two or three days per week - our local one is $125 a month for two hours twice a week, a little more for the three day program.

Some employers have links to daycares where they will guarantee you a spot within, say 6 months or so.

Kijiji is a good source to get an idea mainly for day homes. There are also some organizations around that are a bit more structured under which some of the day homes operate - there's a link in this page to licensed day cares:
http://www.child.alberta.ca/home/1155.cfm

You can also get subsidy but it is means tested, so you may or may not get anything - link talks about this too.

Good luck!

Atlantic Xpat forgets to mention the fact that he uses next door neighbours dog as a sitter though


Last year we paid just over 17k for a 3yr old in full daycare and a 6 yr old in after school programme of which I think 14k was abe to be offset against the taxes

Actually the ****** dog is $30 a day in kennels. We pay a bit over $7k for one child in FT daycare. Come November we'll have two, so thats $15k(ish). $7k per child is tax deductable AFAIK.

We use the posh one over in Elizabeth Park

Thanks everyone, seeing if I can trade my kids in for hamsters as we speak!

Yes think thats about normal prices. We were looking for ones without dogs and where one person wasn't looking after 10 kids we are going to fly the mother in law in on the 2 year super visa works out cheaper

blimey I pay $25 a day for an outstanding day home that my children love (and so do I)