Child care or day care is the care of a child during the day by a person other than the child's legal guardians, typically performed by someone outside the child's immediate family. Day care is typically an ongoing service during specific periods, such as the parents' time at work.
The service is known as child care in the United Kingdom and Australia and child care or day care in North America (although child care also has a broader meaning).
Child care is provided in nurseries or crèches or by a nanny or family child care provider caring for children in their own homes. It can also take on a more formal structure, with education, child development, discipline and even preschool education falling into the fold of services.
Some childminders care for children from several families at the same time, either in their own home (commonly known as "family day care" in Australia) or in a specialized child care facility. Some employers provide nursery provisions for their employees at or near the place of employment.
Child care in the child's own home is traditionally provided by a nanny or au pair, or by extended family members including grandparents, aunts and uncles.
Read more about Day Care: History, Business, Standards and Requirements, Child Development
Famous quotes containing the words day care, day and/or care:
“Your child should feel entitled to cry when you leave; crying is a natural thing for a child to do when she feels bad. The fact that your child cries when you go doesn’t mean she will never like day care. It just means she wants you to stay.”
—Amy Laura Dombro (20th century)
“... too many young painters of the day work for the crowd, and not for art. But, then, should not the painters of the day work for the education of the crowd?”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
“My lord endures
much care of mind.He remembers too often
a happier dwelling.Woe be to them
that for a loved onemust wait in longing.”
—Unknown. The Wife’s Lament (l. 50–53)