A daycare can be a preschool, but a preschool is not a daycare. |
People who have used a “preschool” are the ones that seem to care.
We have used both and I have preferred some teachers at the “daycare” (they are teachers with degrees) to some teachers at the “preschool”. |
Only people on DCUM actually care about the difference. To the majority of the world, the two are interchangeable. It is true that for those under 3, it's all daycare. But for anyone of preschool age (3+ or possibly 4+) most people use the terms interchangeably and I can't think of any adult who would make an issue of the use of the terms. You, PP, have some weird bug. You must be a SAHM who is proud that she doesn't have to work, so she can educate her young children at a "preschool" and not need "daycare". |
+1 I would not associate with someone who puts down others by diminishing their job titles. |
I only find it weird when people use the term “preschool” for a kid under 3 who is clearly going to daycare. I always get the vibe that they’re self conscious that their kid is going to daycare so they rebrand it as “school.” I say this as someone with a kid in daycare—it’s not school and it’s not supposed to be. |
Um, I need school for my 9 year old’s childcare. |
From 18mo+ my kids were in a full year, full day program with a Reggio curriculum where all the teachers had 4 yr education degrees and many had masters degrees. 3yr+ they ate family style in a cafeteria and went to separate rooms in the building for library, music, and art. What do you call that? I call it preschool, because the name of the school includes the word “preschool” and that’s the word the teachers use with the children. |
+1 Are you supposed to say “oh my child goes to Falls Church Preschool but it’s daycare” just to cater to the people who are invested in this distinction? How do the people who have opinions about this cope with things like “day school” or “Montessori school”? I really think this is a made up DCUM problem perpetuated by the poster who always comes on to belittle preschool teachers/daycare providers as uneducated. |
There is a difference. Daycare is childcare for parents’ working hours, and something I consider is for infants/ babies/ young toddlers. A preschool program is… not that. Though a daycare could have a preschool program for their age 3+ learners! Also, I have no problem calling any of the daycare workers teachers (I’m sure they’re teaching the alphabet/ counting/ social skills etc.), but to the pp that said someone with a degree in early childhood development is a teacher, that’s a very different program than early childhood education (where they learn curriculum & instruction, pedagogy, the science of reading, etc.). In my experience, friends that sent their 9 month olds to daycare and called it school just wanted to feel better about sending their kids to daycare. Ps- there’s nothing wrong with daycare!! It’s not a bad thing! Just silly to act like your young baby is learning a curriculum and it’s not just childcare. |
Do the teachers at a preschool have different qualifications? |
I’ve done both.
One of the nice things about preschool was that the kids are dropped off and picked up at the sametime, you meet and chat with other parents. Also, the kids are in the same class for that whole school year and make good friend connections. At a daycare center, rarely did I see other parents with kids in my kids class because drop off was between 7-9am. The kids get moved up to the next group though based on age, and new kids come in…… it’s very different. |
I’m the poster you referenced. I didn’t say someone with a degree in early childhood development is a teacher— I said it’s disrespectful to call them something else if they call themselves a teacher, the school calls them teachers, the students call them teachers, it’s disrespectful to say oh actually you’re a “daycare worker”. And to be really pedantic, having a degree in education doesn’t make you a teacher either. Teaching does. Plenty of my teachers growing up had teaching certificates but their degrees were in their subjects. This again is why I think this is a fake distinction. |
Why do you care so much? |
What do you call a preschool with a full day option? Does that make it a daycare as well? |
it's a silly distinction. I would say my kid is in both simultaneously. He goes to preschool at a Preschool through 8 private school but we chose an option with a 4:00 pickup to match the older kid's pickup schedule. |