By Katie Dukes, director of early childhood policy at EdNC and
Liz Bell, early childhood reporter for EdNC

The inaccuracy of the term “daycare” is at the heart of a book by Dan Wuori, an early childhood expert who you may know from his viral social media posts or his previous work as senior director of early learning at the Hunt Institute. In “The Daycare Myth,” Wuori argues that what we think of as “daycare” doesn’t exist. “That’s a strange thing to say because there are businesses all over North Carolina who have that right outside on their signs,” Wuori said. “But for almost 100 years now, we have envisioned daycare as just this safe, warm place that children can be left during the day while their parents go to work.”

Wuori asserts that vision has never captured the vital teaching and learning that takes place inside what people have typically called “daycare” or “childcare” programs. “The problem with both of those terms in my mind is that they center care. The care in those settings is necessary, but not sufficient,” Wuori said. “This is you selecting who is going to co-construct your child’s brain. This is not babysitting while you go to the movies.” Wuori’s book captures a sentiment shared by many researchers, educators, and leaders in early childhood education, including North Carolina state Rep. David Willis, R-Union, co-chair of the early childhood caucus and owner and operator of a preschool program in his district. “There are several terms describing early childhood education that carry somewhat negative or minimizing connotations, such as childcare, daycare, and nursery schools,” Willis wrote in an email. “The teachers are providing so much more than just ‘babysitting.’ I challenge anyone who thinks this is easy to come spend a day in the classroom.”

Centering learning

As parents know, babies don’t come with instruction manuals. While parents are their children’s first and most important teachers, decades of evidence show that professional educators play a crucial role in the development of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Their expertise and experience make them an essential resource for parents. Most human brain development occurs in the first three years of life. During this time more than one million neural connections are formed each second. Strengthening these connections during the 2,000 days between birth and kindergarten leads to improved outcomes in education, health, employment, and economic stability. Because of that, research has found that high-quality early childhood programming yields a 13% %-%-per-year return on investment as children grow into adults.

In our travels to other states, as we’ve researched best practices, we’ve found a variety of ways that people refer to early childhood education at the state level:

• New Mexico has a cabinet-level Early Childhood Education & Care Department.
• Oregon has its own state-level Department of Early Learning and Care.
• Michigan’s Office of Child Development and Care is housed in its newly-created Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential.
• Massachusetts houses its Department of Early Education and Care within its Executive Office of Education (like our state’s Department of Public Instruction).
• Vermont similarly places Early Education within its Agency of Education.

North Carolina’s state government also emphasizes the significance of education in its official nomenclature. The state entity that oversees much of our formal system is the Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) under the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). That name indicates the focus is on the brain development and education of our youngest learners. But all these phrases and titles are cumbersome, both in conversation and in writing. A simpler term has been adopted in Finland and by a specific model of early childhood education here in the United States — educare.

In both instances, this model centers education while still acknowledging the care inherent in early childhood education settings. Though “Educare” has not found its way into the common vernacular of the United States, “daycare” simply isn’t an accurate term for describing the provision of care and education in the earliest years. As Terra Flint, childcare director and assistant pastor at Trinity Wesleyan Education Center in Eden, North Carolina, put it at a recent rally outside the legislature: “It’s not daycare, because I don’t care for days!”

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