Why do people with kids always complain about the price of childcare?

I’ve always thought practically about things. We have someone clean our house once a month. Obviously, if they didn’t come our house would either be dirty or we’d have to clean a lot more. There is value in the service because they are doing something that needs to be done - cleaning the home.

If you have kids, someone needs to provide care if both parents work. The kids need to be watched and cared for. There’s no way around it unless one parent stays home.

My niece complained about spending $500 a week on childcare for 3 kids - one being a toddler. That trickles down to just over $4 an hour per kid. What exactly is there to complain about? You chose to have children and keep your job. Unless you have family help, someone needs to watch your kids. And that someone needs to be paid. It’s not a mystery.

There is value in the service because your kids are being watched and cared for. If you didn’t want to pay for childcare, you need to stay home or not have kids.

Unless the childcare equates to like $40 an hour for one kid, I don’t understand what the complaining is about. No one is going to watch your child for free besides family.

What exactly am I missing here?