Morning calculus: daycare opens at 8. My work starts, officially, at 9.
If I drop L off at open, by 8:15 I’m at the subway station. If the trains
are like today, it arrives at the station at 8:30. It takes 40 minute for the meandering and packed F train to get to the office.

So, in the morning I’m already late.
Reverse that in the evening considering that the daycare closes at 6
(better than most).
There is no way we could afford to live closer to either daycare or work.

I’m lucky I have an option, unsanctioned officially, to work from home.
Also, I have zero career advancement prospects, which is understood by
everyone, and as a result care for work that warrants overtime work is not
expected (though I still end up working after L goes down because it is
against my nature not to care for what I do). So I manage to make this work
for now.

But wtf do all other parents do??? How can anyone who makes under, say,
$400k live in this city AND have children?