A family photo of Melissa Biel with her husband and three children.

Melissa Biel, Beaver Dam (WI)

When my oldest was born, we didn’t even think about childcare because we couldn’t afford it. It was me staying home a couple of days a week, and my parents taking care of him when I had to work. After a couple of years, I needed to go back to work full-time. I couldn’t take those days off, and my parents couldn’t help more than they already did. That’s when we came to Community Care. Even then when we did the budget, it was only three days a week. I needed to stay home those two days a week, and that damaged my relationship with the job that I had at that time — to a point that never healed. A big part of it was lost trust and support with the people I worked for, because I was trying to work at home and be a mom at the same time. It just didn’t work. I ended up leaving shortly after. The company I work for now, they work hard to understand you need to be a parent first. That’s so rare. I’m very fortunate.

My husband works as lead supervisor at one of the factories here. He starts at 4:30 AM. No places in town take children that early (they open between 5-6AM). You’ve got to cover that gap. We’re a big town with a lot jobs with hours like that. They all need help. Places are offering big incentive bonuses to sign on, but if people don’t have a place to put their kids, they can’t take the job. 

I work from home, but I can’t do my job with my kids at home. Keegan is seven, Connor is four, and Elliott will be one. While Keegan’s in elementary school right now, our other two go to Community Care Preschool and Childcare in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Keegan went there when he was younger, and he does summer camps there too. I feel comfortable having my kids there, knowing that they’re enriching them with things adequate for their age. They’re 5-star rated on YoungStar. They’re trained to look for red flags in development. That’s super important to me.

Community Care provides me the freedom to work and not worry about the kids. With COVID my kindergartner had to learn at home, and it’s not feasible. As a mechanical designer, I need to be active on the computer when everyone’s in the office. It’s not meetings all day and being able to work at night. When the schools shut down last spring, Community Care stayed open. A lot of parents pulled their kids out– understandably, a lot of parents lost their jobs.

My youngest, the baby, wasn’t born yet. I was pregnant. I joke, but it’s not a joke; when I peed on the stick –first with Connor and then Elliott — I told my husband first, and Renee at Community Care second. I called to say “I need a spot.” Beaver Dam only has three centers with state accreditation. We’ve had a lot of facilities shut down. Whenever a friend or family member gets pregnant I say “if you’re not going to stay home with them, or you don’t have something lined up, you’ve got to find a spot and find it soon.”

This community — businesses, even the government — needs to focus more on affordable reliable childcare. I spend more on childcare than I do on my mortgage. It shouldn’t be like that. How often do you have a babysitter or someone sick. Especially with COVID, all of a sudden they were sick, they got quarantined. What do parents do? It’s a real problem. 

When Connor came along, it was running the numbers. An infant in care is way more expensive than a two or three-year-old. We could only afford three days a week, and it was still hard to manage. We had Elliott, Connor’s still in daycare, so we’re paying for two plus an infant. Not a lot of people can afford this. My sister has her daughter in three days a week and she struggles. Friends of ours don’t have anywhere to take their kids this summer. The place they used to send their kids doesn’t have room. Places that do have room — it’s twice as much as what she was paying. 

We have a lot of growing families in town. We need more spots. We need more resources for the facilities existing, or we need more facilities bottom line. And providing early childhood care makes it so much easier for the elementary school teachers–kids that have already become accustomed to routines and classrooms and dealing with their peers. 

I live less than five miles from Community Care. If the kids get sick or if I forget to take bottles, I can run and do it. They’re safe. They’re happy. They love going. Even my infant. I have no worries. I have enough to worry about in my life. For that seven or eight hours that they’re there,  I can focus on work. Then of course, I get my job done better.

***
Interview and writing completed by Ann Imig. A collaboration of Kids Forward, Supporting Families Together Association, Wisconsin Head Start Association, and Wisconsin Early Childhood Association supported by Voices for Healthy Kids policy campaign and the American Heart Association.