COLUMBUS, Ohio — Playing games with her children and husband, Danielle Winters knows firsthand how difficult it can be to afford child care.

“We had two children in child care full time and it costs about as much or more as our mortgage,” said Danielle Winters.   

As a mother of two, she tells me, along with paying for child care, another obstacle is finding quality child care. 

“Finding like either a daycare center or a school that aligns with your priorities and what you want for your family and for your child’s education. And oftentimes there are waitlists or it’s just hard to get in places because there aren’t enough spots for children. Combined with the cost to because you’re going to have to pay for that because it’s really expensive,” said Winters. 

According to the century foundation, the prices for child care in Ohio have increased 25% since 2019 and the average price for an infant in a center is over $12,000 a year. A researcher from The Century Foundation, Julie Kashen says rising child care costs are because of the lack of government attention and funding.

“We should be treating it like a public good, like all of those other programs and services that we all benefit from because we all benefit from child care and early learning. It helps our children grow, it helps our parents work. It matters to everyone. But because we haven’t done that as a country, what that means is that paying for it is on the backs of parents,” said the Director of Women’s Economic Justice for The Century Foundation, Julie Kashen. 

Winters only has one child in child care at the moment and she tells me it’s a little bit more manageable to afford it. But she knows that’s not the case for a lot of mothers. She says a lot of mothers will have to be caregivers and put their careers on hold because they can’t afford child care. 

“I know several women who have had to put child care ahead of their career, and it they’ve either had to step away from their career during these years or they haven’t been able to be as active and maybe pursue the type of career they’d want to,” said Winters. 

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Ohio State held out starting defensive tackle Tyleik Williams in its 38-7 win at Michigan State on Saturday night.

Williams had been medically cleared to return after missing the previous week’s win over Marshall with an unspecified injury and stood on the sideline at Spartan Stadium in uniform, but never rotated in with the defensive line.  

Buckeyes coach Ryan Day compared the injury situation to the one involving left guard Donovan Jackson from three weeks earlier.

While Jackson was available against Western Michigan on Sept. 7 after missing the season opener with a hamstring injury, the staff continued to keep him sidelined as a precaution. Williams’ availability was also limited to an emergency situation against the Spartans.

“We felt like one more week of rest to get him to 100% was the right thing to do,” Day said. “If we needed to, we could have him put him in the game. We decided we didn’t need him.”

Tywone Malone, a senior who transferred to Ohio State from Mississippi, made the start in place of Williams, while Hero Kanu, a redshirt sophomore who started last week, rotated with him in the interior.

Malone made a tackle in the second quarter when he and fellow defensive tackle Ty Hamilton stopped Michigan State running back Kay’ron Lynch-Adams on a gain of 5 yards. It was the only tackle recorded by Williams’ replacements.

Before he was sidelined the last two weeks, Williams had nine tackles and 1.5 sacks in wins over Akron and Western Michigan to begin the season.

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @joeyrkaufman or email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com.

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