Reimagining Childcare: Beyond the 9-to-5 Box
Look around at our childcare landscape and you'll notice something striking: it's almost entirely designed for the full-time employed parent with a predictable 9-to-5 schedule and a livable wage.
The Unspoken Message in Our Childcare System
What does this tell us about who we believe deserves access to childcare?
The traditional narrative is clear but rarely spoken aloud: there "should" be a parent (historically, a mother) at home with the primary vocation of raising children. If this were truly our cultural value, then making outside childcare inaccessible would make perfect sense—it would reinforce home-based child-rearing.
But here's where the contradiction emerges.
Our culture celebrates authenticity and encourages us to pursue our unique paths, yet our childcare industry delivers a stark ultimatum: be with your children full-time OR work full-time. There is no in-between. Sorry to anyone hoping to explore a new career, launch a small business, or turn a hobby into something more—if you have children, these dreams are apparently out of the question because our childcare culture simply won't support you.
Rethinking the Purpose of Childcare
What if we asked a different question entirely?
What if childcare isn't primarily about economic productivity but about meeting a fundamental human need—the need for community, connection, and support in raising children?
In America, we celebrate mobility and individuality. Yet these values have unintentionally stripped us of something precious—proximity to our informal networks of family, grandparents, cousins, and siblings who traditionally shared in childcare. The village that once raised children together has dispersed across cities, states, and countries.
Shouldn't our childcare culture evolve to fill this gap? Shouldn't it resemble the warmth, flexibility, and responsiveness of those informal family networks?
A New Vision for Childcare
We believe childcare should:
Adapt to the many changes of life
Honor sibling bonds
Foster caregiver connections
Support family unity in all its forms
Provide continuity of care through life's transitions
Proactively support keeping families strong and together
This is why we chose to become a nonprofit—to build trust and accountability into our foundation, yes, but also to nurture diverse relationships across sectors. Childcare stands at a crossroads, and we want to help shape the new path that we in Durham will travel down TOGETHER.
Breaking Down False Dichotomies
When we open the dialogue around childcare as a basic need, we encourage small businesses to innovate, corporations to incorporate flexible models, policymakers to support diverse options, and developers to create tools that serve real families. Most importantly, we encourage everyone to see people authentically where they are.
Because the truth is:
YES! You can choose child-rearing as your primary vocation AND have access to a childcare community.
YES! You can choose a career outside the home AND have access to quality childcare.
YES! Parents of all genders are fully capable of being either primary caregivers or primary providers.
YES! Your family deserves a childcare community that recognizes each person's unique and invaluable contributions.
Moving Forward Together
We don't all fit into the 9-to-5 box. We deserve to be recognized for our ever-changing needs as parents and human beings. And we need systems that support us through major life transitions—especially becoming a parent.
What might shift in our community if we started seeing childcare not just as workforce support, but as the essential social fabric that holds us together?
Tell us what flexibility means to you.
Building a different kind of childcare story with you,
Windy Hill Play
