Child Care Service Owners

Most people probably think daytime child care is a fairly modern idea. It's true that only 17 percent of the mothers of one-year-olds were part of the labor force in 1965. That number seems small when compared to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor—approximately 75 percent of mothers of children under age six worked outside the home in 2018. But child care centers were needed as far back as the 18th century. In England, factories opened nurseries to care for the workers' children, a trend that carried over to the United States in the 19th century. Of course, working conditions in factories were often terrible before the 1900s, and the children were put to work at very young ages. So the child care service as we know it today didn't really begin to evolve until World War II, when women joined the workforce while the men were off fighting. Though many of these women quit their jobs when the men returned from the war, roles for women began to change. The last half of the 20th century saw more opportunities for women in the workplace and, for many families, two incomes became necessary to meet the rising costs of living. Findings by the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that today only about 15 percent of married couples with young children have one parent working and one parent staying at home. This has put dependable, safe child care services in high demand.