An Overview of the Daycare Service Industry

The daycare or 'child care' industry generally refers toas well as red tape. The top reason that attracts
the care of children by non-family members outside ofpeople into daycare though would be a love of children.
the home. The industry is quite broad and includesDaycare professionals work with children for most of
small home-operated daycare centers right through tothe day and have a great chance to contribute to their
large pre-school centers that take on an educationalgrowth and development.
role as well as caring for the physical needs ofTraining requirements are still quite minimal for daycare
children.workers with most states only requiring a child care
Some daycare businesses focus on children of acertificate that can be achieved with less than 100
certain age. Infant care centers look after babies andhours of study. While many people think that working
children younger than two and 'before' and 'after'with children is a dream come true they often discover
school care centers cater mainly to older children upthat it can be more stressful than they originally
until their teenage years. The main sector of thethought so staff turnover rates are generally higher
market is children under six who have not startedthan other industries.
school yet.Parents are becoming more selective about the kind
Daycare is a multi-billion dollar industry in the US and itof environment that they want to leave their children in.
has shown phenomenal growth over the past threeMost parents now understand that the first four or five
decades, spurred on by the fact that more womenyears of a child's life are so important in that they
are choosing to work instead of remaining at homehighly influence the way that a child will learn and
with their children. Higher divorce rates have alsointeract with others and their environment as they get
meant that women are sometimes unable to takeolder. Daycare has become much more than
care of their children at home and have no choice butbabysitting as parents have realized that it is important
to work to support themselves financially.that their children are in an environment that stimulates
The industry shows no signs of slowing down and islearning and mental and physical development. There is
set to continue to grow over the next decade.definitely a trend in the industry towards quality in this
Daycare has proven itself to be surprisingly resilient torespect.
recessions in the past.The future of the daycare industry looks bright and
Many people are drawn into the industry as it offerssavvy entrepreneurs who are able to balance a love
good opportunities for smaller sized businesses and itof children with some good business sense should be
generally has low barriers to entry in terms of costswell rewarded for their efforts.