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Parents of young children are labelling the extension of the 20 hours of free early childhood education in today’s Budget a “game-changer” for families.
The policy comes into effect from March next year and saves eligible parents about $133 a week, at a cost of $1.2 billion over four years.
Auckland mother and entrepreneur Katy Thomas told the Herald that while it was still not 40 hours, the jump between families fully financing early childhood education (ECE) and having that contribution is “enormous”.
“It’s the difference [between] being able to afford to go to work or not. It is the difference between a child attending early education or not.”
Thomas said when her youngest turned 3 and was eligible for the funding, it “completely transformed” their family budget and her own freedom.
“I wish it had been there when I was a solo mum with my oldest. I had to go back to work when he was 2, and it was always a struggle to pay those bills on top of my rent and electricity.”
She said that during that time, she carried a burden of shame each time she had to ask her parents to help pay her child’s kindy fees.
“I felt like a failure as a parent unable to provide for my child, and I felt like a failure as a worker because I was unable to generate enough income to support me and my child at that point in time.
“Our cost of living is astronomical. The economic reality of raising a young family is that most mums will have to work, and the trade-off [of] having these really highly competent, incredibly resourceful and skilled workers not in the marketplace because they cannot afford childcare is a real problem for us as a country.”
On the removal of prescription co-payments, Thomas said this will help lift a weight off the shoulders of young families.
“It will reduce, hopefully, emergency admissions and pressure on primary care because people will feel confident to go to their medical professionals to seek help in a timely fashion, instead of having that financial barrier; instead of having the cost weighing over you and debating whether or not you can actually afford for your family to be well.”
Auckland mother and entrepreneur Katy Thomas.
A Taupō mother-of-four spoken to by the Herald said she will be able to send her 1-year-old, who turns 2 in August, to daycare earlier than they anticipated.
″We would have waited until she was three to send her. Not that we can’t afford it, [it’s] just that we would prefer to keep them home and save the money.”
Mentally, it will also help, she said.
“That’s the main reason, like, it’s the mental state of just having kids 24/7. We have an 8-year-old who’s our oldest, and then we have one that’s just turned 7, and then we have a 4-year-old and a nearly 2-year-old. So, I mean, our house is absolutely hectic. The childcare subsidy will help us a lot.”
Asked about the removal of prescription co-payments, she said with the prices of “everything” going up, it’s nice to have “a bit of balance”.
