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A WESTERN ILLINOIS couple recently celebrated the birth of their 100th grandchild.
Leo and Ruth Zanger of Quincy have 53 grandchildren, 46 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. The birth of great-grandson Jaxton Leo on 8 April made the number 100.
Leo Zanger tells The Quincy Herald-Whig that “the good Lord has just kept sending them”. He says the family “could start our own town”. Ruth Zanger says “there’s always room for one more”.
The Zangers have been married 59 years and have 12 children. The youngest, 31-year-old Joe, was already an uncle 10 times when he was born.
Most of the family lives in the Quincy area. When they get together they rent a church hall and it takes 50 pounds of ham or ten turkeys to feed everyone.
The first grandchild, Jeanine, was born in 1975. Aunt Donna is the one tasked with keeping the diary – everyone’s birthdays, weddings, phone numbers and anniversaires.
Along with Kelly (Jaxton’s grandmother), Donna figured out that the little boy would be the 100th grandkid.
“We didn’t even know until Donna and Kelly figured it out and told us about three months along,” said father Austin Zanger. “It’s pretty special — 100 grandkids, that’s a big deal.”
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One the plus side if you are paying rent and childcare at the moment and are waiting for the government to sort it out; you can actually survive for a pretty long time on baked beans and seaweed. So, every cloud…
@Hugh Morris: Oh yes. All that.
A very thorough article highlighting the huge issue of childcare in Ireland. My son is starting creche in July, I was very lucky to get him a place through sheer persistence. I was on 22 waiting lists & now it’s going to cost more than our mortgage. The government needs to do A LOT more to help parents
I think childcare costs vary massively outside of Dublin. I know some people paying €150 pw in the west and others paying €800pw in Dublin. The whole thing needs complete overhaul and needs to be regulated and subsidized so it’s affordable for parents and worthwhile for the Childminder.
@Edward Reid: I am aware of a childminder who is minding 4 children. One toddler from early morning and 1 child from 12.30 and two older children from 2 and 3pm respectively. Drop offs and pick ups are required. Children minded in their own home. 7/8 hour days. She is getting a daily rate of 50 euro per day. No breaks during the day, no paid annual leave, no paid sick leave. Parents decide on days required each week. If they don’t need the childminder she doesn’t get paid. Parents complain of lack of child care services but when families have very qualified child care services they under value it completely. Needs complete overhaul
@Sinead O Donnell: If she’s minding the kids in their own home then the parents are her employer and have all of the fun legal obligations that come with that.
If she’s paid €50 a day that seems lower than minimum wage for a start (I don’t know her hours)
It’s not really the system that is wrong there. It’s that she’s getting paid cash in hand (I’m assuming there) and this is absolving her of her rights and the parents of their obligations.
https://www.revenue.ie/en/life-events-and-personal-circumstances/children/registering-child-minders-as-employees.aspx
@Michael O’Neill: I agree with most of the content of your reply. Unfortunately as she minds kids in their home, she cannot register as self employed and as she is not a live in nanny, the childrens parents are exempt from revenue obligations. In this case the child minder falls within the cracks of a very inefficient system.
Genuine question, (I don’t have children), Why is Childcare so darn expensive in Ireland? Is it due to cost of insurance, lack of state investment, lack of pricing regulations, rental costs, or privatized bjg profit making creches?? I would love to know the breakdown of overheads for running a creche in a city for example.
@Ang: all of the reasons you gave with the exception of big profits. Most childcare facilities run by individuals spend far more time on filling out forms, register children , trying to get answers to queries and the such like out of hours than they do actually looking after children.
@Ang: it is so expensive mainly because insurance in Ireland is fully monopolised and is operating as a cartel. At the moment there is only 1 company that provides insurance to children in creches. Its something around 900 per child.
Also the government never heard of the word “childcare”.
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