In The Modern World . Browse the NewsHour's coverage of youth , and welfare . The National Child Care Information Center homepage. There are roughly ten to thirteen million children in child care across the country, both in day care centers and in private homes. Almost half of the children under age one are in child care regularly.
More American parents use day care now than at any other time.
And not only have the numbers grown, so too have the settings in which day care is offered. Those include day care centers, care in private homes, company-provided at work care centers, and nannies in the home. For the older child some schools offer before and after school activities. For many families child care is the third largest household expense, after housing and food. But experts estimate that is less than half of what high quality care actually costs.