We do have a Tagesmutter, children there are cared for but no special education. But lots of free play which is fine for us.
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How much does a Tagesmutter cost per day? I suppose something between 50 and 100 CHF?
So as a Tagesmutter, if you get 2 kids for 15 days a month, that could be 3’000 CHF extra income per month. This can compete with a “regular” job.
Funny that no one mentioned the hidden cost of Kitas. There was a discussion some years ago on the newspaper.
The cost of the universities that train people (mostly women) for 4-8 years expecting them to be productive but they suddenly change to being fulltime mothers/fathers. This is especially a big issues on field with limited numbers of students. That is also a childcare cost we pay.
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Actually more like a hidden benefit than cost.
BTW something noone mentioned yet is some kind of collaborative neighboorhood childcare.
For example, you have 3 young couple with kids, taking turns on taking care of kids, meaning everyone can work at 80%, which is way acceptable in Switzerland. You throw in some older persons who would be happy to have something to do all day et voilà.
Have experienced it (as a kid), guess it takes some time to put it together and not always in line with the flexibility people would like to.
What do you mean with “benefit” ? Students pay 1500-2000 per year to study, the rest is paid with taxes. I don’t understand what’s the benefit you talk about.
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Meant that the KITA has the benefit that qualified people can go back to work. I thought you would refer to that by hidden cost.
Just a misunderstanding.
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Absolutely. The less stress and less expenses was my line of thinking with vasectomy. 
Whaaat? That sounds generous. At least in my canton child support is paid by the employer. My employer pays 330 per kid per month and it’s already boosted up from the required minimum. In addition they pay a small family allowance. Together it’s a bit less than 10k per year. It definitely helps but it’s a little short of 5k per kid per year.
Very well summarized. At the moment Switzerland benefits from both lower and higher educated immigration. At the same time there is a lot of criticism towards the immigration policies. Until the education system and/or birth rates are changed, this seems extremely hypocritical.
(I want to be very clear that I’m not referring to any person in this discussion or on this board. I realize that immigration is also a burden on many things but I just can’t stand this strange dichotomy which is common in many countries).
That’s the option which was affordable for us but there are limitations to both. First the availability of (good) Tagesmutters, second the limited hours for an au pair. If you follow the law, an au pair is only allowed to work 15 hours per week unsupervised, and another 15 with a parent present so 30h total (cantonal variations may apply). That would not be enough for two full time workers - or even if one works 60-80%. Until very recently ZG also had a limitation that people with B permits were not allowed to get an au pair. There were also limitations to the country (language region) where the au pair can come from. For instance their mother tongue should not be the same as the family’s. Luckily some of the regulation has partially changed now although au pairs are still widely abused because they don’t know their rights.
The legal way to get around these limitations is to hire a nanny which is more expensive. You really become an employer, they do have a minimum wage (one of the few regulated minimum wages in CH!), you pay their pension, accident insurance etc. You also need an extra room for the au pair/nanny. If the nanny does not live in, the services will be more expensive (generally by at least 1000 Fr. per month). You also have to sponsor German/French/Italian lessons for the au pair but not for the nanny.
I don’t want to jump into conclusions but based on this info and the regulation I’m familiar with it sounds at least partly illegal. If your friend was working 6 days a week 700 CHF per month is far too little or at least there are too many working hours for an au pair. The minimum wage for nannies starts from 18.20 Fr per hour.
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Yap, I stick with one! thank you 
As I said already before, I’m a stay at home mom and I don’t miss my job or my career at all. I’m happy like this 
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Similar situation here.
I get 275 CHF per month per child (Familienzulage) in Basel Stadt.
My wife gets an additional contribution from her company for 120 CHF per month per child.
Total comes to 4,740 CHF per year per child.
The Kita where we live charges 2,800 CHF per month per child on a full time occupancy basis.
For 1 day, the charge is 560 CHF and for 1.5 days it is 840 CHF.
Above prices for children up to 18 months.
I actually considered this a couple of times. However I live in a small village and I don’t know if I even would get any children to care for.
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Very likely another case of “They don’t know their rights”…
There is also the option of caring for your kids and working simultaneously if you work from home. That’s especially true once they get into Kindergarten. A “Tagesmutter” is an option to consider for babies/toddlers, as it can be significantly cheaper than a creche. There are also playgroups which are run as non-profits and have very reasonable rates. My son spent his early years at this kind of playgroup and the cost was around 270 francs per month - hardly a bank breaker. Btw, I’m a single dad with 3 kids and work fulltime
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Respect! I don’t know how you can handle it. I can’t imagine how that would work for me. You must be a master of logistics and concentration.
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Personally, I would have a much easier life, had I sticked to one. But I believe it’s the opposite for the kids, so we decided to have the second one not for us (though we enjoy him like crazy), but for our first child who now has a partner in crime for life.
And after the really tough first period, they start to entertain each other, reducing the overall amount of attention required by the parents.
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Yes, I think competes well also in terms of stress and fatigue
You have all my respect.
Hats off man! I dont know if I would be even able to do that as a single dad for 1 kid.
If you have any tips to optimise daily life, please fee free to share.
I should consider this. How much will it cost you? A friend of a friend mentioned some 2/3K CHF.
To be honest I’m an only child myself, and I never really missed a brother or sister as I had many neighbors in my age to play with.
And also, not everyone finds a partner in crime for life in his brother/sister. So that argument doesn’t work for me
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