STARTING/OPERATING A HOME DAYCARE

SHOULD YOU REFER TO YOUR PROGRAM AS A CHILD CARE OR DAYCARE?


When naming a new program, you may be wondering whether to include "daycare" or "child care" in your program's name.  When choosing a name for this site, we also had to make a choice between the two terms.  After some research and thought about what kind of content we wanted to include, we decided to name our site "Childcare Central" and not "Daycare Central."  Currently, the term "daycare" is more commonly used than "child care."  However, the term "daycare" is beginning to be used more and more often to refer not only to child daycare, but also to adult daycare, animal daycare, and daycare for the disabled.  Because of this shift, you may choose to refer to your program as a child daycare or you may choose not to use the term "daycare" at all.  For the time being, "daycare" is still an acceptable choice and is probably not going to disappear anytime soon.

The term "child care" ("childcare" is also correct) is a good choice because it refers specifically to children.  While "child care" is a broad term that includes child daycare it is also used to refer to care provided by a babysitter, nanny, or even a family member.  Therefore, if you are talking to someone about "child care," you may still have to specify exactly what you mean.  You always have the option of choosing not to include "daycare" or "child care" in your program's name.  Instead, you can use preschool, nursery school, or a variety of other names that do not require you to specify what type of care you provide. However, you should be cautious not to choose a name that is too general because prospective parents may have difficulty figuring out what type of care you provide.