Some preschools in the Pine Belt are feeling the sting of tough economic times as more parents become unemployed and pull their children from daycare to make ends meet.
Kimberly Viehweg, director of Creative Kids - a Christian Learning Center in Oak Grove - said the preschool has lost 20 children in the past two months because parents have lost their jobs.
"They just can't afford it," she said. "When parents lose jobs, we lose children."
Viehweg said the daycare costs range from $120 to $135 per week. On average, she said, one child is equal to $7,000 of yearly income.
The preschool's Oak Grove campus, she said, now houses 300 children - an all-time low - compared to its high of 375 children this past spring.
On its Wesley campus, the preschool houses 70 children and has lost 10 children over the past month.
"We're hoping our numbers pick up, but business has never been so low," she said. "It's really hit us hard."
Viehweg said hard times have forced a cut in hours for the preschool's 55 employees.
Payroll, she said, annually accounts for $1 million of the preschool's $2 million budget.
"We don't want to lay anyone off," she said. "But cutting the payroll is the most efficient way to cut in this business. It's just really tough timing."
But no one knows that like full-time employee Shannon White who has been cut back to 32 hours per week.
A single mother of three, White struggles to stretch her paycheck.
"I'm in a bind right now," she said. "Those eight hours really count."
White, who earned about $500 every two weeks before a cut in hours, has seen her paycheck slashed to $325. That, she said, is devastating.
"My rent alone is $525 each month," said White, whose car is also in the shop.
"Sometimes I don't have enough money to get the things I need, and I have to pick up the phone and ask for help."
White, who has been in childcare for many years, knows what will happen if the preschool's numbers keep dropping.
"It worries me every day," she said.
Fellow employee Peggie Jones is also concerned about the future of her job.
"I'm a little worried for myself and the teachers here about what will happen if business doesn't pick up," she said.
"I keep reminding myself that child care is needed, but that's only if people have jobs."
Ann Boleware, owner and director of Land of Make Believe Child Care in Hattiesburg, has also seen a drop in business. She now houses 88 children compared to her usual 100.
"That is the lowest number I've had in years," she said. "Like others, we just have several parents who've lost their jobs."
Boleware said she's also cut hours for employees and hopes to avoid layoffs.
"We're trying as hard as we can to keep everything the same without raising the cost of our tuition," she said, adding daycare costs about $110 per week per child.
"But if parents keep losing jobs, we'll lose children and then employees."
Despite area job losses, Sherri Sundeen, owner and director of Mimi's Playhouse Day Care in Petal said her business hasn't slowed down. She has a full house with 60 children, and her two-year waiting list is full.
"None of my kids' parents have lost their jobs," she said. "But if future job loss affects the parents, it will affect us."
Jill Williamson, owner and director of Crayon College in Oak Grove, said her preschool also is thriving.
"I don't think people are being laid off down here like in other places," she said. "So far we haven't been affected, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed."