child care costs

I am poor. I receive government aid for myself and my son because I'm a single parent in college. I get no help from his father and we STRUGGLE sometimes, especially when I'm in school. But then again, now that he's old enough to go to public school, the difficult times are when he's out of school and I need to find reliable daycare that doesn't eat my entire paycheck. Day care for babies can cost up to $125 a week, and they're only open until 5:30 or 6 during the week so I'm limited as to the hours I can work as well as the hourly wages. Now that he's school age, it's still $75-85 a week.
I read the article on poverty and the thing that stuck out to me the most was the rising costs of child care that make it difficult to find a job that pays enough to actually make money. I have that problem every summer. I pay about half of my income out to child care. Why? You get what you pay for! Sub-standard day cares cost less, yes, but what will my son lack by going there? Even programs such as the YMCA, which offer a sliding scale based on my income, have too many disadvantages (primarily, most unparented kids go there, and I remember the Y kids from when I was in school and they were generally not the well-behaved, good citizen type kids). It's very difficult to get ahead when you have a child if you're not already ahead and some sacrifices (cheap daycare) are just not worth it. Public school is a sacrifice, too, but has its advantages. Max's school has a climbing wall; none of the private schools in Anderson have that! And the private schools expect donations because they don't have computers; public schools have computer labs. There are pros and cons to both forms of education, but the best part for me is I can afford public school! I always have tremendous difficulty working weekend nights because I have to find someone to watch my son. Baby sitters these days want minimum wage! When I was a kid, I'd watch two kids for $10 a night and consider myself lucky if I got tipped! So as a waitress, even working at night, I rarely make enough money to be worth paying a babysitter: I'd rather be at home with my son myself, for free!