2022’s Hottest Daycare Trends

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The Covid-19 pandemic has had huge impacts on the daycare industry. From closures to capacity limits, daycare providers have contended with many challenges, and rising costs with ever diminishing profit margins in commercial daycare have impacted the industry.

In 2022, we’ll see how daycare providers have adapted to these changes. Here we’ll explore the hottest trends emerging in this industry this year.

Daycare – What It Is and Why It’s Important

Working parents need different levels of childcare services, and full-on classroom arenas, largely play-oriented sites, and primarily baby-sitting are each types of daycare available to young children.

At the best daycare sites, early childhood education specialists work with children to grow their cognitive abilities and learn and practice social and emotional skills with peers. Studies show that in the long run, high quality childcare outside the home can be a bedrock for later success. 

1 – COVID Has Caused Attendance Figures to Dip Considerably

The daycare sector took a beating during the pandemic, with many daycare service providers permanently closing their doors.

It also economically bruised others that managed to hang on. In addition, many parents assumed full-time care for their children during lock-down and are still not financially able to return them to daycare services such as LadyBug & Friends Daycare, which has taken a chunk out of attendance figures across the board and worsened the economic profitability of commercial daycare providers.

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2 – Daycare Is Early Childhood Education

For most sites, daycare is not glorified babysitting but true early childhood education, in which children are active participants in their own learning processes. In high-quality daycare sites, children initiate their own learning, encouraged and prompted by adults with expertise in early childhood education.

This change of focus developed from the expectations placed on daycare services by both parents and schools. By the time a child enters kindergarten or grade one, children who’ve been in high-quality daycare settings have the foundational learning and social and emotional skills to navigate relationships already in place. 

3 – Daycare Deserts Are a Reality

Many areas within the US have little daycare service available. These underserved communities and regions are called daycare deserts. Many communities do not have a single daycare service provider, and over half of all Americans currently live in daycare deserts.

This has nothing to do with demand as surveys show that on a national scale, for each available daycare seat there is a four-child deep waiting list. Daycare deserts are one of the residual effects of services closing due to difficulties in making a profit as operating costs climb.

4 – Health Safety Practices Have Been Enhanced

One positive outcome of the pandemic has done to the daycare sector is a renewed focus on health safety. Deep cleaning protocols have become the norm as daycare service providers navigate through the always evolving COVID-19 guidelines.

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From hand-washing and sanitizing to teaching basic health behaviors, such as sneezing or coughing into the elbow, daycare facilities have maintained their reputation of being some of the cleanest sites around. This continued practice ensures the health and safety of children, their parents, extended families, and the unsung heroes—those who work in the daycare industry.

5 – Daycare Programs Remain Five-Days A Week

Drop-in or part-time daycare may have once been the standard. But consistency is the new normal and this means a regular schedule for children. Parents and daycare service providers prefer this approach, because it creates an environment of stability and safety for participating children.

Plus, high-quality daycare may operate with long hours, typically with drop-off as early as 7am to pick-up as late as 6pm, to meet the demands of parents’ work schedules. With daycare services open five days a week, it’s easy to fit daycare into even the most challenging work schedule. 

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6 – Corporate Daycare Has Enhanced Standards

cIn-house daycare services are becoming more common in the corporate world. These facilities are used to attract and retain staff and have helped many parents—moms and dads alike–reenter the workforce. New building designs now incorporate areas specifically for such daycare facilities.

These changes also point to a forward step in the workplace: employers are acknowledging that many of their personnel have families in need of care and attention while parents are at work, and that parents and children mutually benefit when they are close by each other. It certainly doesn’t hurt the company either! A happy and content parent is a more productive worker. 

Final Thoughts

At one time, daycare may have been thought of as little more than a babysitting service. Over time, professional early childhood educators introduced structured daily programming for young children. Standards—like those of the National Association for the Education of Young Children—were developed to meet parents’ and schools’ expectations.

Through decades of research on early childhood learning, daycare sites came to focus on the most important of fundamentals: that children learn best through play, and that the social and emotional learning of childhood follows them throughout life.

Daycare has become a vital step in the life of the average person. The skills they learn follow them into adulthood. COVID-19 has certainly had an impact on daycare services, and this year’s trends in the industry reflect this.

I’ve covered just a handful of the key trends that will continue to push daycare services into the future. While Covid-19 has made it challenging to be a daycare service provider, the innovations it requires and the ongoing rewards of early childhood education remain and are growing!

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