40 pct. of Dutch parents find childcare too expensive

Forty percent of parents think that childcare is too expensive, according to a survey by social and cultural planning office SCP. What Dutch parents want is good, but above all affordable childcare, the researchers conclude, ANP reports.

The SCP researchers surveyed 1,800 parents of babies and toddlers. They found that many parents do not send their child to childcare because they find it too expensive. According to the SCP, those parents may not know exactly how expensive childcare really is and therefore have a distorted mage of the costs.

The researchers also noted that parents with lower incomes are less negative about the cost of childcare than parents with higher incomes. According to SCP, this is probably because the childcare allowance is based on income, and parents with lower income get a higher allowance than parents with higher incomes.

Single parents with a low income are more negative about childcare in general than couples or single parents with a high income.

One in seven parents finds it difficult to apply for childcare allowance. A third said that there are too few places that offer childcare. Drop-off and pickup also cause a lot of stress among parents, the researchers found. Larger childcare institutions have set times for when a child can be picked up or dropped off. This causes stress for 10 percent of babies' parents and 20 percent of toddlers' parents.

In general parents believe that their children are well cared for at childcare institutions and that staff are well equipped.