1.
daycare child; a child enrolled at a nursery school / daycare center
A child between roughly 0 and 6 years old who attends a 保育園 — a Japanese daycare center that cares for infants and preschool-age children while parents work. Distinguished from kindergarten-goers, who are called 幼稚園児.
息子は保育園児だ。
My son is a daycare child.
保育園児たちが公園で遊んでいる。
Some daycare kids are playing in the park.
保育園児の娘は、毎朝泣かずに登園できるようになった。
My daycare-aged daughter has gotten to the point where she can go to daycare each morning without crying.
Compound of 保育園 (daycare, nursery) and 〜児 (child). The paired term 幼稚園児 refers to kindergarten children; the distinction matters in Japan because the two systems fall under different ministries and serve somewhat different age ranges and family needs. In casual speech parents often shorten this to just 園児.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 保育園児の送り迎え: dropping off and picking up daycare kids
- 保育園児向けの絵本: picture books for daycare-age kids
- 保育園児の生活: daily life of a daycare child
- 保育園児を持つ親: parents who have a child in daycare
- 保育園児の頃: when (someone) was in daycare
RELATED TERMS:
- 保育園: daycare center — the facility
- 幼稚園児: kindergartener — peer term for children at 幼稚園
- 園児: preschooler — umbrella term covering both daycare and kindergarten kids
- 保育士: licensed childcare worker — the adult staff at daycare
CULTURAL NOTE:
Japanese daycare (保育園) is primarily childcare for working parents and accepts children from as young as a few months old. Kindergarten (幼稚園) is more of an educational program for ages 3-5. Families often choose based on whether parents work and what hours they need coverage.