Parents make sacrifices to afford Waterloo region's high daycare costs

Alyssa Kuron and her husband do what they can to save money in order to afford daycare for their two young children.

They try to keep costs down at the grocery store, they take pack work lunches, they rarely eat out and they've even cut out snacking.

• Cost of child care up by 20% in some cities since 2014, report finds

"We went and made our own wine we stopped spending money at the LCBO. We're cord cutters we only have Netflix, we don't bother with cable," she said.

They have to make these sacrifices in order to afford child-care costs, which currently eat up a quarter of their combined income.

• From 2016:Costs of child care rising in Canadian cities
• From 2015:Child care costs highest in Toronto, lowest in Quebec

Kuron said they made a list of daycare costs as they started their family and it was shocking to see how much they would spend "just keep our kids alive during the day while we go to work."

Their story is not unique in Waterloo region. The annual report from national think-tank the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows the cost of child care is rising quickly in Canada.

Hear more from Wednesday's The Morning Edition:

Fifth most expensive in Canada

While Kitchener didn't actually see an increase from 2016 to 2017, this area is still the fifth highest in terms of infant care rates in the entire country.

The top five cities with rates were:

• Toronto at $1,758 a month.
• Mississauga at $1,452 a month.
• Vaughan at $1,415 a month.
• Vancouver at $1,360 a month.
• Kitchener at $1,325 a month.

Even though Kitchener didn't see costs increase year-over-year, senior economist and the report's co-author David MacDonald said there was a threeper cent increase between 2015 and 2016,below the rate of inflation.

• 2014:Kitchener has middling rank in child care affordability study

"Fees are high, but they aren't going up nearly as quickly as we're seeing in other centres," he told CBC K-W's The Morning Edition host Craig Norris.

• 2016:Kitchener child-care costs for preschoolers second highest in Canada, report says

He said in their report, they saw many parents finding creative ways to make ends meet and still pay for child care.

"I think that a lot of parents, instead of trying to figure out how they can reduce the fees, they try to avoid these fees, so they work split shifts, somebody works part-time, the grandparents become involved any way that you can to reduce these high fees. That and trying to space kids out so you don't ever end up with two kids in daycare at the same time," MacDonald.

Work less, earn less

For Kitchener mom Kerilyn Fischer, getting creative meant leaving her job in retail and becoming a bus driver.

"It's challenging, getting the kids up, getting out to the bus, making sure you're on time," she said of her new job, but it also means she can drop one child off atschool and stay at home the rest of the day with the younger one.

Still, if child care were less expensive, she suspects things would have been different.

• K-W MPP's bill to fund not-for-profit child care fails to pass second reading
• TorontoMayor John Tory announces child-care subsidies, asks province and feds for more help

"If child care was less expensive, I probably would have gone back to retail management," Fisher said.

On the CBC K-W Facebook page, Rachel Bolton said she was shocked by the cost of before and after school care.

"I made the choice to work less (and therefore earn less) and scrimp and save to make ends meet," Bolton wrote.

Hassan Issa Moussa is a full-time PhD student and his wife works full time. Their youngest child has speech issues and they were able to get a subsidy for daycare something her family now depends upon.

"I will never be able to pay full daycare without the subsidy," Moussa wrote.

For Kuron, while they have to cut back on some things, she said, "I have no regrets."

"I'm happy to do what I have to do so I can feel comfortable that my kids are safe and well cared for," she said.