May 16, 2025
Sticker Shock
Let’s play a quick game of “Guess That Number.”
What costs more than a year of in-state college tuition, doesn’t come with a diploma, and somehow still doesn’t include snacks?
Answer: Childcare in Massachusetts.
That’s not a punchline—it’s a reality. According to Child Care Aware, the cost of childcare in the U.S. jumped 29% between 2020 and 2024. And here in Massachusetts? We’re not just leading the pack—we’re lapping it. The average annual cost of childcare in the Bay State is now over $26,000. That’s double the national average of $13,000.
Let that sink in. That’s more than your mortgage, your car payment, and probably the sum total of your own childhood lemonade stand earnings. Combined.
The Hidden Toll of Sky-High Childcare Costs
When childcare is this expensive—or simply unavailable—families don’t just “figure it out.” They sacrifice.
Parents scale back their careers.
Which often means fewer promotions, smaller paychecks, and a daily dance of “Who’s taking the 3 p.m. conference call from the minivan today?”
Kids miss out on real-world enrichment.
Too often, screens become the default babysitter. And while Bluey is doing her best, she’s not exactly going to help your kid master long division or perfect their soccer dribble.
Stress skyrockets.
And we’re not just talking about mental load. We’re talking actual stress hormones. According to Zero to Three, families with limited childcare access experience higher rates of anxiety and depression. (Spoiler alert: that doesn’t help the bedtime routine.)
So What’s a Parent to Do—Sell a Kidney? Join a commune? Move to Finland?
Or… hear us out… Mentmii.
Mentmii is a local, in-person, skill-sharing platform that helps parents find trusted, high school-aged mentors in their own town, like:
- The varsity soccer star teaching your 8-year-old how to nail a corner kick.
- The Robotics Club kid helping your 5th grader build a catapult.
- The first-chair flutist introducing your kid to music—with zero pressure to practice scales for hours.
All for a fraction of what you'd pay a traditional sitter or coach.
It’s mentorship that doubles as childcare. And it’s affordable, real-world, and refreshingly screen-free.
Why It Works
Because Mentmii taps into the underused brilliance of local teens.
Because parents shouldn’t have to choose between work and reliable help.
Because kids thrive when they’re learning from someone who gets them.
Because “I’m bored” should not be a lifestyle.
And most of all—because we believe it still takes a village. We just made one that fits in your back pocket.
So, yeah. Childcare is broken. Mentmii is the fix.
We're not saying we can solve the national childcare crisis overnight. But if we can help even one family in your neighborhood stress less, connect more, and stop Googling “Why is childcare so expensive???” at 2 a.m.—we’re doing something right.
Mentmii: Where kids learn more, teens earn more, and parents finally exhale.