[speaker001:] So you have a child
[speaker002:] Yeah we,
[speaker001:] two years old in child care right now. *slash error
[speaker002:] Two year old daughter in child care and we went through the process of searching for child care and
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] uh, finding what we consider to be,
[speaker001:] [Squeak] [door].
[speaker002:] real good child care at a, uh, pretty reasonable price, we think.
[speaker001:] Uh,
[speaker002:] How about you, do you have any children?
[speaker001:] Yes, our first and he just turned three months.
[speaker002:] Oh, boy.
[speaker001:] So, we're [NOISE] just starting into hunting for child [NOISE] care.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Right now, both of us are students.
[speaker002:] Are you? Where are
[speaker001:] Uh,
[speaker002:] a student?
[speaker001:] Uh, University of Southern Mississippi.
[speaker002:] No kidding.
[speaker001:] Uh, she's,
[speaker002:] I was a professor in a university here in California for a while.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Yeah, uh, are you going to, uh, put your son in child care in a, a year or two?
[speaker001:] Uh, probably. Uh, actually spring semester a year from now he's going to have to be in child care f-, uh, five days a week more than likely.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Uh, depending on how my class schedule runs because my wife will be doing her internship that semester.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] It will be forty hour week, not, no, eight to five type of thing.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] [Inhaling] So [breathing], depending on what my class schedule looks like, he may spend four, si-, anywhere from four to eight hours a day in child care at that point. Right now we're trying to avoid it, but we just, as a matter of fact just yesterday hired a, a girl to, uh, watch him. Uh, [breathing] I get out of class at certain time and my wife is already supposed to be on her way to her class. You know, once a day this overlap happens where we can't, one of us
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] be home.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] So for about twenty min-, twenty, thirty minutes a day we got a baby-sitter comes in.
[speaker002:] Well, that's a good experience, I think, and, uh, [throat clearing] there are a lot of things to think about and the articles that are written on the topic,
[speaker001:] [Thumping].
[speaker002:] are pretty good and they kind of boil down to, uh, any other important decision you really have to explore the alternative
[speaker001:] Uh-huh [faint].
[speaker002:] and what we found, uh, to be the best guide was our own instincts about,
[speaker001:] [Clinking].
[speaker002:] people who were going to be loving
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and, uh, [throat clearing] that's more important than anything else. We could have sent, uh, her to a fancier, uh, facility.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Uh, she goes to a home. This is a, uh,
[speaker001:] [Clinking].
[speaker002:] a couple, uh, emigrated from China early
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] in, in their lives. They've been here probably thirty, forty years.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] They've got three daughters. Uh, and,
[speaker001:] [Child yelling].
[speaker002:] they have a loving home and, uh, they're both there and they have a kid that comes in and helps them in the afternoon.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And our daughter is healthy, happy, well adjusted and enjoys going
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] to see her friends, so
[speaker001:] Uh, that makes a big difference.
[speaker002:] it's a good experience. I th-, if it's good, I think it's very good for the child.
[speaker001:] Yes.
[speaker002:] And if it's,
[speaker001:] [Child crying].
[speaker002:] a loving environment, I think it's very good and, and that's really what we've learned about it. She'll have to go on to something more stimulating in terms of preschool in a year
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] but, uh, we feel real fortunate and we were able to, uh, just, uh, choose in the marketplace. I don't know what it's like around, uh, Hattiesburg.
[speaker001:] There's a lot of child care available, but
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] invariably there's waiting lists.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And we were a little slow getting on the waiting list
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] with the, uh, okay, the university, uh, university's, uh
[speaker002:] I'll bet they're involved.
[speaker001:] uh, department of, uh, uh, their Home Ec Department
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] uh, they, uh, they have a subbranch, uh, American Family Counseling and their people staff this, this, uh, the child care center just off campus. But, uh, they have a pretty good size waiting list.
[speaker002:] Yeah [screeching].
[speaker001:] So,
[speaker002:] Well, that's, uh, I know it's, it's a real hard thing to do, even for people in, in, uh, university communities.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Out here at Manford, they have a, you know, a, a, a real good facility and there, uh, is quite a waiting list to get into that.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] So it's, uh, uh, you know, it's a, it's a, it's an important,
[speaker001:] [Talking].
[speaker002:] decision, it's an industry that's still a cottage industry
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and I think this is b-, really
[speaker001:] Well, it's best, *slash error
[speaker002:] is buyer beware.
[speaker001:] Yeah, a cottage industry's the best way to do it really,
[speaker002:] Well, it is the best way
[speaker001:] because if you over,
[speaker002:] to do it, interestingly. I think that, uh, my own interest in, in development, human development
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] leads me to believe that that's a good sign and that, uh, private enterprise is the way to go and that it will lead to a
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] fundamental change in the way we learn.
[speaker001:] [Clinking] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Because, I think what we're going to go to is much more commercial entrepreneurial learning ventures in the market. As a matter of fact, my future is banked on that, uh, professionally because I believe that, that there are, uh, pressing needs in the marketplace, unmet by schools, colleges
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] universities for, uh, learning a lot of things that kids can learn watching Sesame Street and in child care.
[speaker001:] [Noise].
[speaker002:] Primary skills which turn out
[speaker001:] Yes.
[speaker002:] to be the most important skills in life.
[speaker001:] And it's amazing how much good things like, uh, Sesame Street will do.
[speaker002:] It's, it's phenomenal.
[speaker001:] .
[speaker002:] It's phenomenal, the programming, the human operating system,