The media needs to be invited by us to visit our "regular" home daycares that have been running successfully for a few years so if necessary, they could also interview past/current clients, if the clients wish to participate.
While we know the majority of home daycares are good to excellent, the public is only being given this skewed view of daycares.
Is any of us brave enough to do this? Invite the media into our home? Perhaps it is not even about being brave enough, do we as busy people have the time to do this?
I did send an email to a news anchor who did a story this week and used the term "unlicensed" daycare and corrected him on the misusage of this term. I just received a thank you for my input email in return, but it's a start. I did give my contact info so if they are interested in further speaking with me, then I will. I just don't know if I would do on camera, but then, I am getting way ahead of myself.
I think the best start is for us to email the news media and set them straight about our "unlicensed " daycares. Maybe if enough of us contradict this term to them, they will stop using it as a descriptive word for our industry.