ABC's and 123's:

Many different words and phrases are used to identify the early care and education environments where young children spend time outside of their homes. Some people use a single term – say, “child care” – to mean any and all of these settings. Other people may use “day care” to mean one type of setting, and “preschool” to mean another. What is correct, or is there a single correct answer? 

Like language in general, the words and their usage evolve as the structures they represent and peoples’ perception of them change.

When I was little, I played dress-up and painted and sat in my cubby at a nursery school. It was a part-day, part-week program – and still operates that way today. Those programs are increasingly rare though. The assumption is that children have a caregiver who is fully available to them outside of those limited hours. These settings can be wonderful for early learning and socialization, but don’t fully meet the needs for most working parents.  

Other programs, sometimes called “child care” or “daycare”, may be open from 6 AM to 6 PM – or even longer – and are able to align with the work hours many parents require. Many of these programs provide intentional, compassionate, enriching care and education as well.

My own children attended an excellent child care (pictured) from infancy to kindergarten on a schedule that worked for my spouse and I, and our full-time jobs. One still attends an afterschool program to cover the last few hours of the workday. We are grateful for the enriching, reliable care these programs provide.

However, many child care providers struggle with very real challenges that impact quality. These include inconsistent revenue, staff turnover, low wages, and the emotional and physical toll of caring for young humans and their families. I’ve heard providers say it isn’t fair to expect someone paid $15 per hour to care for the basic needs of a group of children and also ensure they are prepared for school and beyond. This isn’t an outlandish position. All children deserve excellent care, and their caregivers deserve commensurate compensation and respect. 

This is where parents and other well-intentioned primary caregivers might say something like, “She’s in daycare now, but next year we’re going to make sure she goes to a preschool.” 

Here is where word choice starts to make me twitch. When supervision of children is placed in contrast to care and education, we’ve entered into a false dichotomy. It cannot be one or the other.   

Whatever we call it, child care can,
and must, do both.

Recently a friend asked for my opinion on a supplemental program at her son’s child care. They were offering a “kindergarten-readiness” program, where – for an additional fee – enrolled children would get pulled into a separate space for “prep” three times a week. This simultaneous, selective enrichment cannot become a norm. All those children are going to kindergarten. Every child deserves attentive, planful care that will help them thrive in school and life.  

Quality education is critical, but it’s not only about education. Families need to work. In the majority of families with children under age six, all parents work. No amount of rhetoric, punditry, or internet comments saying people shouldn’t have kids if they can’t afford to stay home will change the fact that most modern families need all adults to earn an income. When parents can’t work, it is often a hardship on the family. A 2024 survey by GROW Licking County found that 46% of respondents have someone in their household who cannot work full-time due to the lack of accessible, affordable child care.  

Child care is an economic essential – for families’ security and well-being, for the employers and communities that rely on those workers, and for the tax base that relies on those incomes. A single child care gap results in a loss of about $52,000 to $79,000 to the economy over a ten-year period. Nationwide, all of those missing and unfilled child care slots cost our country hundreds of billions of dollars.

Child care is a “three birds, one stone” problem.

Children need excellent, enriching care; their grown-ups need to work; and communities need capable, competent workers, both now and in the future. The good news is we have a proven solution that addresses ALL these needs.  

Whether you call that solution “child care,” “day care, “preschool,” “early care and education,” or something else is secondary (though I’ll be honest – I do have my preferences). What’s important is that we prioritize this care, to help children grow, learn, and feel deeply happy and secure. We must make this care a reality for all families that need it, regardless of work hours, zip code, or income. 

Our language impacts our thoughts, and vice versa. Rather than recommending specific vocabulary, though, I encourage all of us to speak intentionally and loudly about all the ways we need child care.