As early as 6am, the hallway outside Vivian Mutwiri’s home, is filled with small shoes. Tiny sandals, sneakers, gumboots, some of them far too large for the toddlers who wears them.
Inside, the morning chorus has already begun. Children calling out for their parents, others clinging quietly to caregivers, a few sitting solemnly on tiny plastic chairs still trying to understand why the day has started this way.
Near the door, a young mother kneels to hug her two-year-old son. “I will come back in the evening,” she whispers, kissing his forehead.
He watches her walk away. For a moment he stands frozen, as if deciding whether to cry. Then the door closes, and a caregiver gently lifts him into her arms.
Across Kenya, this scene repeats itself every weekday morning. Thousands of parents drop off their children at daycare centres before heading to work.
It is a routine shaped not by indifference, but by necessity. In an economy where most households rely on two incomes, and extended family members often live far away, daycare has quietly become part of modern childhood.
Yet behind every hurried drop-off lies a question many parents rarely say aloud: When we spend most of the day working, who raises our children?
In Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Thika, Nakuru, Meru, Eldoret and other fast-growing towns, daycare centres have become part of the urban landscape.
Some operate in purpose-built learning spaces with trained early childhood educators. Others, like Vivian’s, are small home-based centres where a few toddlers spend the day under the care of a single caregiver.
For many working parents, these spaces make employment possible.
“I leave my home in Kinoru, Meru at 6am and return after 6pm,” says Roseline Mwaniki, a bank employee and mother of a three-year-old girl. “Without daycare, I would not be able to work. My parents live in Nyeri, and my husband and I both have demanding jobs.”
She says the arrangement has helped her daughter become socially confident. “She knows how to play with other children, and she has learned songs and games.”
Still, there are moments that tug at her heart. “Sometimes she says something funny or new, and the teacher tells me she learned it earlier in the day. You realise that someone else is witnessing many of your child’s first moments.”
For many parents, daycare is both support system and emotional compromise.
“A generation ago, raising children in Kenya often involved a wider circle of support, grandmothers supervised play under mango trees, older cousins carried babies on their backs, and neighbours stepped in when parents travelled or worked late,” say Nancy Okello, a counsellor and family coach.
She says children then moved freely through a network of familiar adults. Today, she says, that village has grown smaller. Instead, young families migrate to cities for employment, while apartments have replaced family homesteads. Grandparents remain in rural homes while parents build careers in urban centres.
As a result, says Nancy, childcare has gradually shifted from family networks to paid services, and for many urban parents, daycare is no longer optional. It is the only practical solution.
Inside the daycare world
At a small daycare centre in Ngong, Kajiado county, about 15 toddlers gather around colourful plastic tables for a morning activity. One child hums along to a nursery rhyme while another carefully stacks wooden blocks into a small tower.
Across the room, a caregiver kneels beside a boy who has begun to cry.
“He misses his mother
“The first weeks are usually the hardest, and some children cry every morning when their parents leave, and we do our best to comfort them, play with then and slowly they start to feel safe, and most adjust with time,” says Mary Wanjiru, a caregiver who has worked in daycare for nearly ten years.
Mary believes caregivers play an important emotional role in a child’s day. She explains children need more than supervision, and they need someone to talk to them, to listen, to laugh with them.
Child development specialists describe the first five years of life as a period of rapid brain development. During these early years, children form the emotional and cognitive foundations that influence learning, relationships and resilience later in life.
“Consistent, responsive caregiving helps young children develop trust and confidence, though parents have to be careful against framing daycare as automatically harmful,” says Prof Rebecca Wambua, an educationist, counsellor and author of children guide books.
She says a nurturing daycare environment, where caregivers interact warmly with children and provide opportunities for play and exploration can support healthy development, and the quality of attention children receives, matters more than the physical location of care.
Some families try to keep childcare within the home environment. This may involve hiring a nanny, relying on grandparents or having one parent temporarily step away from full-time work.
For Peter Segei, a father of two, family support made that choice possible.
“My mother looks after our youngest son during the day, where he spends time outdoors, listens to stories, and plays with neighbours’ children. It feels similar to how we grew up,” he says.
However, he acknowledges that not every family has that option because “with the cost of living today, many couples cannot survive on one income.”
The emotional balancing act
For parents, choosing daycare is rarely a simple decision. It often involves weighing financial needs against emotional instincts.
“I struggled with guilt at the beginning, but I also realised something – that providing for your child is part of loving them,” Roseline admits.
Evenings become the time when many parents try to rebuild connection through dinner conversations, bedtime stories, and weekend trips to the park.
“These everyday rituals help maintain the emotional bond that busy workdays sometimes stretch thin,” says Nancy.
She says what matters most is not perfection, but consistent warmth and attention when parents are present.
Prof Wambua explains that as Kenya’s cities continue to grow, daycare will likely remain part of many children’s early years. “However, the conversation it raises goes beyond childcare arrangements, as it touches on how societies support working parents, how workplaces recognise caregiving responsibilities, and how communities rebuild forms of connection that once came naturally,” says the expert.
This, she says, is because behind every daycare drop-off lies the same quiet hope – that even in the rush of modern life, the child will grow up feeling seen, secure and deeply loved.