When Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio face off at the vice presidential debate, child care is likely to come up, in light of comments Vance has made about grandparents chipping in.
Kim Guillois and her husband, Max, moved their family from Houston, Texas, to Wakefield, Massachusetts, three years ago to be closer to family and get more support for their children.
"We just realized you know how difficult it was to be raising a child during COVID, working both of us full time without any kind of village," Guillois told NBC10 Boston Tuesday.
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It's a solution vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, suggested for families struggling to pay for child care last month, saying, "Maybe, like, grandma, grandpa wants to help out a little bit more or maybe there's an aunt and uncle who wants to help out a little bit more."
It's also a solution that Guillois acknowledged does not work for everyone. And political strategist Jacquetta Van Zandt expects Vance will have to answer for that comment during the vice presidential debate Tuesday night.
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"It drew some ire from parents and grandparents," Van Zandt said. "You're going to see two very different styles and types of politicians and it's really going to be incumbent on you as the viewer to decide whose values align with you every day."
The average annual cost for infant care in Massachusetts is $21,913, according to the Economic Policy Institute. For one child, that's 22.7% of a median family's income, or 41 weeks of full time pay for a minimum wage worker.
"Truthfully in this economy most parents are two working parent households so they need child care, and my parents are both still working full time, they're not retired yet," Guillois said. "I'm aware that the child care here is some of the most expensive in the country and we feel it."
Guillois, an occupational therapist, took a pay cut and bought a house a short drive away from her parents in 2021, but they still pay for full time child care.
The state Legislature recently passed the Early Ed Act in the hopes of making child care more accessible and affordable for families in Massachusetts.
"That is doing a lot to help families with the cost of child care. It's expanded eligibility to more families to get subsidies," said state Sen. Jason Lewis, chair of the body's Education Committee.
