The NY Times' Joe Nocera writes about Google's first foray into the employee child care business. And by "writes about," I mean, "gives an 800-word, barely-credited recap of a whole cluster of reports, leaks, and firsthand accounts that Valleywag ran at least two weeks ago."

The looong and short of it are at Valleywag, but the gist is that Google's executive management group--at the insistence of co-founder Sergey Brin's sister-in-law, mother of four, and early Googler, Susan Wojcicki--decided to get rid of the Kinderplex, run by a more traditional outside childcare provider, in favor of their own expansive, Reggio Emilia-inspired development center with tons of space and ultra-low teacher-child ratios. And then they dropped the bomb of a 75% tuition increase on Google parents, who are now looking at nearly $90,000 year in pre-tax childcare expenditures for two kids. [Infant care jumps from $1574 to $2390/mo; preschoolers go from $1116 to $1710/mo.]

[My favorite detail is how the Palo Alto Architectural Review Board "said they hope the building when redone will be more colorful and playful than what Google's design shows." Apparently the public servants didn't get the memo that one's child's environment should be in warm sages and linens that "invoke (sic) a home more than going to a carnival." Or to the bright, primary-colored company whose winning IPO lottery ticket set one up in the first place.]

Parents who can can pay what they want for childcare, I got no problem with that. But Google's really handling this like a bunch of inept dickheads. Which just means that Google the company is getting all grown up.

On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble [nyt]
Google daycare now a luxury for Larry and Sergey's inner circle [valleywag]
Google's daycare debacle: the Kinderplex memos [valleywag]
Board OKs Google child center [pa daily news via valleywag]