56% of children 0-5 years of age across Canada use some form of non-parental child care on a regular basis. This is the finding of a large parent survey – Statistics Canada’s 2023 Canadian Survey on Early Learning and Child Care. However, nearly 980,000 or 44% – are cared for exclusively by their parents. This seems surprising to many, and apparently contrary to the notion that families need child care when their children are young. However, when the data are looked at more closely, some of the reasons become clear.
In the first year, or sometimes the first eighteen months of a child’s life, many parents are eligible for paid maternity and parental leave in order to spend time with their newborns. According to the Statistics Canada data about 270,000 children or 12.1% of all 0-5 year-old children have a main caregiving parent who would normally be employed during the day, but is currently on maternity or parental leave.
There are another 235,000 children, or 10.7% of the total who are 4 or 5 years of age and currently attend a different form of early childhood education – kindergarten – for much of each weekday. Kindergarten is not considered to be a child care arrangement by Statistics Canada, but kindergarten does provide care for children. The large majority of kindergarten arrangements across Canada now cover the full school day, and often for 4 year olds as well as 5 year olds. Sometimes, before-and-after-school child care is available for these children, but not always at a low parent fee. Many parents are able to adapt their work or school schedules so their children do not need any non-parental care beyond kindergarten.
Another 475,000 children – 21.1% of all 0-5 year-old children – do not have parents on leave and are not in kindergarten, but in any case are cared for entirely by their parents. Close to half of these children – about 202,000 – have a main caregiving parent who is currently employed. Parents may cover child care needs while they are at work through off-shifting between parents (parents working or studying different shifts so one can always be with the child). About 55,000 of these children were on a waitlist for child care in 2023.
A bit more than half of these children – about 269,000 – have a main caregiving parent who is not currently employed. About 41,000 of these children were on a waiting list for child care.
In sum, the picture of children in parent-only care is a complex mix of different situations in which parents currently do not use child care. Many of these children will use or have used child care and kindergarten at different ages, but are not currently using child care.
CHILD’S AGE
The likelihood that children participate in licensed child care is strongly affected by the child’s age. Only 24% of children who are less than two years of age (0-1 years) currently use licensed child care. This is, perhaps, unsurprising because so many parents take a year (or in some cases, eighteen months) of paid maternity and parental leave when children are first born.
However, 55% of Canada’s children who are two or three years of age are in licensed child care. When children are four or five years of age but not yet in kindergarten, 68% currently use licensed child care. For children who are four or five years of age and are currently attending kindergarten during the days, 33% use licensed child care.
The use of parent-only care also varies strongly by child age. 62% of children who are less than two years of age (0-1 years) are cared for only by their parents. This falls to 30% when children are 2-3 years of age and 22% when children are 4-5 years of age and not yet in kindergarten. For 4-5 year-olds who are already in kindergarten (full-school-day in most provinces), parent-only care is the main complement to kindergarten for about 51% of children.
