The care of young children and study of their special needs.
Care and supervision of infants and children by people other than their parents. In past decades, when many women stayed at home with their young children, child care usually meant bringing in a baby-sitter or relative for a few hours on an evening. But today, with many more single parents and working couples, child care means a much more major commitment for many families, often for over 40 hours a week. Some employers, church and community organizations, and schools (as in the 21st-century school) have begun to meet this enormous need locally, but state and federal governments have so far failed to address the issue in any comprehensive way, so parents are generally on their own in arranging for child care.