They warn you to install the car seat early, pack a hospital bag at least a month early and stock your freezer with easy meals before welcoming a new baby, but in my experience the most surprising challenge was finding childcare—particularly in a rural community. When I began looking for a caregiver for my unborn child earlier this year, I quickly realized that I lived in a childcare desert.
The Center for American Progress defines childcare deserts as census tracts with more than 50 children under age 5 that contains either no childcare providers or so few options that there are more than three times as many children as licensed childcare slots. According to TCAP, 51% of people in the United States live in a childcare desert.
After accessing my state’s human services search engine to locate licensed daycare centers and home daycare providers, I was stunned to see that the closest daycare option for me was 20 miles away, but like all the other providers, they had no openings for infants.
I admit I started looking for daycare too late in the game, but almost all of the childcare locations were so far away that even if my name came up on the waitlist, I would have to drive a combined two hours every day, back and forth, just to work from home. Looking for other possibilities, I decided to ask several young mothers for recommendations.
One of my neighbors has a 2-year-old and an infant and works in a town 45 miles away. She said the lack of childcare options in our community was so frustrating with her first child, she considered quitting her job and starting a home daycare. She eventually abandoned the idea and stayed with her current profession, but she is forced to drive her children 25 miles in the opposite direction of her work to drop them off at daycare and then drive 40 miles to work. Then she repeats the routine for pick-up. That sounds exhausting, doesn’t it?
Another friend of mine who has a home business would drive her children 25 miles to town and drop them off at a Mother’s Day Out program, and then she would sit in the parking lot to access a Wi-Fi connection so she could work. This shortened the miles she drove, but it was a pain working in a car and relying on spotty internet. Additionally, Mother’s Day Out was only three days a week during the school year, and only ran from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The rest of the time she just had to struggle through.
I spoke to another mother who said if finding daycare providers in our community were easier, she would have had more children. This one bothered me the most because lack of childcare options shouldn’t be the reason husbands and wives do not expand their families.
Children in rural areas who grow up on farms are most likely to be the future farmers and continue agricultural legacies for the next generation. If we want the average age of the American farmer to decrease—it is now 58.1, according to census data—we need more children growing up on farms and learning the ropes from a young age.
Lack of childcare has also forced many parents—mostly mothers—to abandon their careers to stay home with their children full time. This affects the workforce in small communities and leads to one-income households.
I have a lot of respect for stay-at-home moms who take care of their children seven days a week. It is hard work, and not everyone can do it. Personally, I crave the fulfillment of my occupation during the day and snuggles with my baby when I’m off the clock. Parenthood is about sacrifice, but I don’t think giving up a career or deciding not to have another child should be the only options due to childcare restraints.
By the time my baby was born, I was fortunate enough to find an unlicensed caregiver for my child who fits my needs and limits my driving time to about 45 minutes to an hour a day. However, this solution doesn’t come along for everyone.
Once upon a time, there was a café and gas station in my town. Now there is only a single gasoline pump at the co-op. As amenities continue to disappear in these small towns, so will the population. If we want rural communities to survive, parents need options for their children, and providers need incentives to open daycare facilities in childcare deserts. The future of our farm families depends on it.
Lacey Vilhauer can be reached at 620-227-1871 or [email protected].
