I call it school as well. My DC associates her center/school and learning with fun. I plan to keep building on that positive association. I don't see why others are upset about what it is called.

OP - I am right there with you. A 6 week old baby isn't in "school". I think it's to make the parents feel better about themselves for taking their children there.

It's annoying!

Anonymous wrote:How about a foreign-language immersion daycare center where children are actually learning?

No, not school.

Interesting pet peeve. We call it school. We love the place and yes for the younger kids it is daycare. But our kids love it and we want them to carry with them a positive association of "school." We started doing it at home and just do it everywhere because our brain is trained to say school.

I'm just not sure Why anyone would care enough to think about this and post about it.

Anonymous wrote:I always feel like it is because people feel insecure about their daycare decision and so they refer to it as school (when speaking to other adults).

This is the weirdest thing ever.

Um, who cares? My toddler (2.5) goes to a combo daycare/preschool. Now that he can talk about it, we call it school ("what'd you do at school today?") etc. I think we called it daycare before he could talk, but I don't remember. I honestly don't know what we call it to other adults.

I can't IMAGINE why you'd care. You kind of sound like an asshole, to be honest.

I call it school too, to my baby. To adults I call it daycare.
Why? I'm not sure. Maybe because it's only one syllable. Maybe because in a way it really is "baby school". I don't think it's because I'm insecure about my decision to send her to daycare.

I always feel like it is because people feel insecure about their daycare decision and so they refer to it as school (when speaking to other adults).

We call the daycare "school" when we are talking with our 2 year old twins. With anyone else, we call it daycare. We call it school for them because 1-syllable words are easier for them than 2-syllable words. Nothing unusual and no agenda to push about the quality of the care. Why this should make any difference to you is beyond me. Would you really like people around you to tell you about the odd slang or terms that you use that bother them? Just ignore it and move on. What an odd thing to get peevish about.

Anonymous wrote:I have the same (stupid) pet peeve. A high school classmate if mine posted a pic on FB of her 1 year old going offgor his "first day of school". No, it's not.

Exactly. Daycare isn't school. Daycare is daycare, school is school. Sometimes though a daycare runs a preschool program. I doubt that's the case for a one year old though. Maybe mom feels better sending her kid to "school."

How about a foreign-language immersion daycare center where children are actually learning?

I have the same (stupid) pet peeve. A high school classmate if mine posted a pic on FB of her 1 year old going offgor his "first day of school". No, it's not.

This is a weird pet peeve to me. Why would you care what she calls it? Obviously at 1 it's daycare. My DS's daycare ran like a school and when he got to K he did an actual certified K program and some kids went onto first grade afterward. The last few years there were like a school-reading math and real curriculum. I think people don't love the word daycare maybe?

It isn't school. School starts with K. There is preschool - however for most people preschool is daycare. Daycare is anywhere that is providing childcare while you work.

Ok this is admittedly a stupid pet peeve. My coworker always refers to her child as going to "school" rather than "daycare." It's a daycare center and the kid is one year old. I get that many daycare providers function as a preschool in the older years, but c'mon. I asked her today if she kept child at home during govt shutdown and she was like "oh no, Suzy loves school soooo much."

But maybe I'm just not with the lingo- do other people refer to daycare as school?