Daycare – an outdated term that doesn’t reflect today’s child care

“Child care implies that something is happening in the environment to help my child develop and grow. Something more than basic housing,” she said (AmyCorriveau, who is First Things First’s Chief Program Officer). The outdated word came about in France in the mid-1800s as a means of caring for the infants of working class women. It gained popularity during World War II, the first U.S. government-sponsored child care was created after women were encouraged to join the workforce as their husbands went off to war.

To read more about the changing term – and how Experts in the field emphasize that there is a difference between the formal system made up of early childhood educators, and the informal system, which families may refer to as babysitters. Click here to read on.