Anonymous wrote:uh, kids who are 3 like to call it 'school' and understand what that means.

give me a break.

This. I'm the PP in the other thread whose daughter started it calling it school out of the blue. I never did before, but now we do. I think it's sort of cute, but I don't know where it came from. Daniel Tiger goes to school, and his school is basically identical in programming to our daycare. Or maybe another kid calls it that. I honestly have no idea. They have a PK3 curriculum, so I don't feel like I'm misleading her about the nature of school. If I enrolled her in DCPS PK, she'd be doing basically the same things--circle time, centers, reading stories. learning letters and numbers, etc.

If you want to get your knickers in a twist over it, go for it. But please stop insisting that I feel guilty about her being in daycare, or feel the need to justify it, or want to make it sound more impressive or something. I don't feel guilty, not in the slightest. She's happy, she's thriving, and what she calls the place where she spends her days is way down on my list of things I give a shit about.

Anonymous wrote:I am a parent whose child went to daycare at the university where I was completing my degree. It was an amazing daycare center probably better than most preschools - but it wasn't preschool. It was daycare.

I am not ashamed or feel the need to justify my choice to send my child to daycare rather than continue to stay home with her (I did for her first year) or hire a full time nanny. But it was daycare. She was 12 months old when she started and she was in daycare, not school.

I get tired of this argument. We are lying when we call daycare "school" and it makes it seem like we are trying to make it seem better than it is. Daycare cares for my child primarily and teaches secondarily. School teaches my child primarily and cares secondarily.

Now DD actually is in an all day preschool from 9 to 3. Not a daycare.

Why does this upset you OP? People can choose to call it whatever they like.

Anonymous wrote:My kids were home with me when they were little and now I teach in a half-day preschool. I don't care what people call daycare! They often have a curriculum and do the same thibgs we do, only with more time. Why does anyone care what it's called???

Because they are insecure about their choice.

My kids were home with me when they were little and now I teach in a half-day preschool. I don't care what people call daycare! They often have a curriculum and do the same thibgs we do, only with more time. Why does anyone care what it's called???

This is so dumb.

Daily, adults generally go someplace we call "work." Sometimes they get paid, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they enjoy it, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they make things, sometimes they stare at a computer all day.

Daily, kids generally go someplace we call "school." Sometimes its all play, sometimes they sit at desks, sometimes they sit on the floor, sometimes they have toys, sometimes they don't.

We're using work and school as giant general buckets to help describe our days to our kids. Who cares if the 2 year old is, or is not, getting formal instruction? He still goes to the kid place, which is called "school."

OK... the same argument is why we don't have full day Kindergarten in Loudoun county. They say that it's mostly daycare and not school and thus shouldn't be mandatory or public (you know, to help those poor schmucks who are out there working to pay the taxes).

I was choosing between a 9-6 daycare and a 9-2 preschool. Both pretty similar in terms of activities, circle/story time, movement classes, STEM module, art, music, guiding kids on pre-writing skills etc. Both had lead instructors with ECE degrees.

But if it makes you feel better to call one a daycare and the other pre-school, have at it.

uh, kids who are 3 like to call it 'school' and understand what that means.

give me a break.

My kid's daycare was actually more age appropriate and skills oriented than his new "preschool."

Anonymous wrote:What do you call it when the daycare goes up to age 5 and contains a classroom with the word "Preschool" written on the door?

Truly?
A scam. It's daycare, keep my fees low and don't send me a supplies list and ask for extra money for extra curriculars like music class.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What if I call it daycare and my 2.5 yo insists on calling it school? Do I correct him? Please, I'm so worried. I don't want him to believe a lie.

Yes. Correct him. Drive past the neighborhood school he will go to one day and tell him "That's school. You'll go there when you are five." Give him that milestone to look forward to and aspire to and be excited about.

Not the PP you're quoting, but would you do that if her son was in a traditional preschool, i.e., stand-alone preschool program?

The snobbery around traditional preschool is absurd. When my daughter was a toddler, we called it daycare. Her little brother is in the same toddler room that she was in, and he goes to daycare. Now she still goes to the same organization, but is in a room with a play-based curriculum, the caregivers have specific training in early childhood education, etc. So, yeah, we call it school. Same as we'd do if she were in a stand-alone preschool program. For the life of me, I do not understand why some people are so hung up on this issue. It was a hell of a lot easier logistically to keep her where she was, the parents whose children had been through raved about it, done and done.

OMG, who cares what anyone else thinks. I still remember the snobby Moms from playgroup who trashed my preschool selection calling it a daycare. (I chose Goddard, they chose a religious school.) If there's a curriculum toward learning, it's a school. If it's all day free-play with a pile of garage-sale toys in the corner, it's a daycare.

This thread has made me lose all hope for the the human race.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-preschools-differ-from-daycare-centers_5958.bc

And as an Early Childhood Educator with a master's degree in Early Childhood Education from a leading university, I would prefer that everyone use the word childcare vs. daycare. (because usually when someone says the word "daycare" they use a special tone that indicates it's so terribly beneath them... even my sister would use a horrified tone when she said that word)

But we all don't get what we wish, do we?