Babysitting is the occasional temporary care of a child during the absence of his or her parents. Child care or day care is ongoing care during specific periods, such as the parents' time at work. Child care can also take on a more formal structure, with education, child development, discipline and even preschool falling into the fold of services.

Some childminders care for children from several families at the same time, either in their own home or in a specialized child care facility. Some employers provide nursery provision for their employees at or near the place of employment.

Child care in the child's own home is traditionally provided by a nanny or au pair, or by a extended family member including grandparents, aunts and uncles.

History

Day care appeared in France about 1840, and the Société des Crèches was recognized by the French government in 1869. Originating in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th century, day cares were established in the United States by private charities in the 1850s, the first being the New York Day Nursery in 1854.

Business

From individual caretakers to regulated institutions The day care industry is a continuum from personal parental care to large, regulated institutions. The vast majority of childcare is still performed by the parents, in house nanny or through informal arrangements with relatives, neighbors or friends. For example, in Canada, among two parent families with at least one working parent, 62% of parents handle the childcare themselves, 32% have other in-home care (nannies, relatives, neighbours or friends) and only 6.5% use a formal day care center.

Government subsidies Where the market is sufficiently large or there are government subsidies for daycare, for-profit corporate day care exists.

• North America

In North America, Bright Horizons Family Solutions is one of the largest such companies, with over 600 daycare centers.

• Australia

The Australian government's childcare subsidy has allowed the creation of a large private-sector industry in that countryhttp://www.facs.gov.au/internet/facsinternet.nsf/VIA/childcare/$File/childcare.pdf. ABC Learning Centres is a publicly traded company running about 1,000 daycare centres in Australia and New Zealand and another 500 in the USA.

Expansion of corporate daycare Another factor favoring large corporate day cares is the existence of childcare facilities in the workplace. Large corporations will not handle this employee benefit directly themselves and will seek out large corporate providers to manage their corporate daycares. Most smaller, for-profit day cares operate out of a single location.