A batch of kindergartens are "switching" to elderly care. Why has the "combined care for the elderly and children" suddenly become popular?
Shared care for the elderly and children is becoming a new phenomenon in the "one old and one young" field in the past two years.
From community complexes, to the transformation of kindergartens into nursing homes, and then to the integrated space of elderly care, childcare, and medical care, many places have begun to explore integrating elderly care and childcare into the same service system. Resources that used to belong to the education, civil affairs, and community systems are being re - integrated.
Behind this change, is the decline in the birth rate, the acceleration of population aging, and the simultaneous increase in family care pressure. In 2021, the "Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting the Healthy Development of Elderly Care and Childcare Services" for the first time systematically proposed the service system for the "one old and one young", clearly supporting the use of community comprehensive service facilities and existing buildings to develop elderly care and childcare services.
Meanwhile, the number of kindergartens and the number of children in kindergartens across the country have been declining for many years. In some areas, there have been situations such as idle kindergartens and insufficient enrollment. The preschool education system, which was originally centered around "expansion", has gradually entered the stage of stock adjustment. Against this background, "shared care for the elderly and children" is no longer just a new attempt in elderly care services, but has begun to become an important entry point for the reorganization of preschool education space and community - based development under the background of a low birth rate.
01
Reactivating idle spaces:
The emergence of community complexes
In recent years, many streets and communities in cities have begun to integrate and operate elderly care facilities and childcare spaces. These projects are usually promoted by streets, state - owned enterprises, or communities. They are mostly located in community public spaces, and the common feature is to emphasize the "15 - minute living circle", allowing residents to access elderly care and childcare services at their doorstep.
As one of the youngest super - large cities in China, Shenzhen has a long - term high birth rate and large population base. At the same time, it has gathered a large number of "migratory bird" elderly who move with their children and active elderly in good physical condition, so the demand for "one old and one young" services is particularly prominent. The Sanwei Community project in the urban area invested more than 8 million yuan and was led by the state - owned enterprise Shenzhen Xingfu Health Group. The funds were mainly used in two aspects: one was to demolish, reconstruct, and rebuild the originally single - function elderly care facilities, and the other was to add professional configurations for the childcare center. After the transformation, the 1,500 - square - meter senior service station can provide services such as day care, rehabilitation therapy, reading, and fitness, and the 500 - square - meter childcare center specifically accepts infants and toddlers aged 0 - 3. The two areas have independent entrances respectively, separated by a wooden door with a glass window in the middle, which not only avoids mutual interference between the activities of the elderly and children but also retains an interactive space for the elderly to observe the children's activities at any time.
The project can enjoy multiple government subsidies. The elderly care section received a construction subsidy of 1.5 million yuan and an annual operating subsidy of up to 300,000 yuan at most; the childcare section can get a subsidy of up to 10,000 yuan per childcare position and a monthly operating subsidy of 1,000 yuan. The project has solved practical problems in the community: many elderly people find it difficult to truly participate in community elderly care activities because they have been taking care of their grandchildren for a long time. After the children enter the neighboring childcare center, the elderly can stay in the community to receive health care and leisure services.
In addition to large - scale community complexes like those in Shenzhen with high investment, different cities are also exploring lighter - weight paths according to their own situations.
The Huxi Street in Chongqing High - tech Zone emphasizes "the government sets the stage and the market operates". The local government provides support such as rent and utility bill exemptions, and market institutions are responsible for the specific operation. Since the overall cost is compressed, the childcare fees are about 30% lower than the surrounding market prices, and it has served more than 500 families so far; the "Xingfuli Community Complex" in Beijing embeds elderly care stations and childcare points in the same community space, emphasizing neighborhood relations and community companionship; the Jianshe Street in Guangzhou directly links and operates childcare institutions and community elderly care service stations, relying on existing community spaces for functional integration without additional construction of large - scale complexes, with relatively lower overall investment and faster implementation speed.
The common feature of these projects is to incorporate elderly care and childcare into the same set of community service systems, reduce operating costs through space integration and resource sharing, and improve service accessibility. However, practical problems also exist: most projects are positioned as inclusive and public - welfare, with limited charging space, while the pre - transformation and long - term operating costs are relatively high. Whether they can operate continuously still largely depends on government subsidies and the financial affordability of the operators.
02
The transformation path from kindergartens to nursing homes
While new community comprehensive service facilities are being built, another type of change is also occurring in some kindergartens. With the decline in the number of enrolled children, idle classrooms, and increasing operating pressure, some kindergartens have begun to explore transforming into the elderly care service field.
The No. 1 Kindergarten in Beiyuan, Jinhua, Zhejiang, was transformed into an elderly care service facility in 2023. This kindergarten, which had been in operation for 25 years, was closed due to difficulties in enrollment, and its original classrooms, activity spaces, and some facilities were re - transformed for elderly care services. This case has attracted the attention of the education industry, which is closely related to its background: the continuous decline in the birth rate has led to obvious student source pressure in many kindergartens.
In the past 20 years, a large number of new kindergarten places have been added across the country, and localities have continuously expanded kindergartens to address the problem of "difficulty in getting into kindergartens". However, as the number of births has decreased from about 18 million per year at the peak to less than 9 million, some counties and third - and fourth - tier cities have begun to have idle classrooms and vacant kindergartens. Continuing to operate kindergartens is difficult to cover the costs, while the demand for community elderly care and inclusive elderly care continues to grow, so some kindergartens have begun to try to transform.
However, complete transformation is not the only option. Some preschool education institutions in Nanyuan Street, Jining, Shandong, choose to retain the childcare business and add an elderly care section at the same time, forming a "dual - age service" structure. Resources such as kitchens, activity spaces, and logistics staff can be shared, and the income from the elderly care business is used to relieve the operating pressure of the childcare section. This model has currently appeared in some private kindergartens in counties. Since these institutions have already formed fixed site and personnel costs, it is difficult for them to withdraw from operation immediately after the reduction of student sources, so they can only look for new sources of income.
The real difficulty in transforming from a kindergarten to an elderly care service is not the hardware transformation, but the overall change in the operating system. The original space design, personnel structure, and service process of kindergartens are not established according to the needs of the elderly, and some employees also need to receive relevant training in elderly care services. For many kindergartens, even if they have the intention to transform, they will still face a large number of practical problems in the actual implementation process.
03
Letting the elderly and children really interact:
A testing ground for inter - generational relationships
Whether it is a community complex or the transformation of a kindergarten, in many projects, the elderly and children still move in their respective areas, and the interaction is relatively limited. However, another type of project has chosen a completely different direction: not only sharing space but also hoping that the elderly and children can establish real interactive relationships and long - term companionship.
The Changshouqiao Elderly Care and Childcare Center in Hangzhou is one of the earlier representative cases. The project not only sets the elderly care and childcare functions in the same building but also specially designates a shared activity area and arranges fixed activities for the elderly and children to participate in together every week. After long - term adjustment, the operating team finally chose forms such as picture - book reading, music activities, handicraft courses, and simple games, which not only avoid overly childish activity content but also do not make children feel bored. During the activities, the elderly tell stories, the children draw, or they sing together, forming a stable interaction during the fixed time.
This type of model obviously draws on the experience of Japan's "integrated facilities for the elderly and children". Japan began to explore similar projects in the 1990s. Relevant research has found that long - term contact between the elderly and children helps reduce the loneliness of the elderly, delay cognitive decline, and improve the socialization ability and emotional expression ability of children. The "Childcare Station + Happy Aging Center" model adopted in Songxia Street, Shangyu, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, also emphasizes "grandparent - grandchild - style companionship", hoping to establish an emotional connection between the elderly and children through community activities.
However, in actual operation, the problems are also complex.
Not all the elderly are willing to interact with children. Some elderly people may find children too noisy; some children may also feel strange or even scared of the elderly with limited mobility. The activity content, time arrangement, and personnel ratio all need long - term adjustment. More importantly, this type of project has extremely high requirements for the ability of the operating staff. The staff not only need to master preschool education knowledge but also understand the psychology, health status of the elderly, and inter - generational interaction methods. At present, there is still a serious shortage of compound talents with "dual - age service" ability in the market. After the actual implementation of many projects, they eventually return to the state where the elderly and children have separate activities.
04
From childcare to lifelong learning:
The functional expansion of educational space
There is also another type of project that is further breaking through the age boundary of educational space.
The focus of this type of model is no longer just "elderly care + childcare", but hoping to establish a community learning space covering different age groups. The same venue serves not only children but also the elderly and even the middle - aged and young groups.
The "Childcare + Senior University" model explored by some institutions in Wuhan adopts a time - sharing operation method: it is a childcare period during the day, and then turns into senior university courses and community interest courses in the afternoon and evening. In the same classroom, it may be used for children's painting courses in the morning, then becomes a smartphone learning class for the elderly in the afternoon, and is used for community residents' interest classes in the evening.
This model maximizes the utilization of space but also brings new management problems. The requirements of different age groups for the classroom environment, equipment configuration, and course content are significantly different. The venue needs to quickly switch functions in a short time, which puts forward higher requirements for operation and management.
However, this type of project provides a new direction: the boundaries between childcare institutions, senior universities, and community education centers are beginning to be broken, and educational space no longer only serves a single age group. For some educational institutions facing student source pressure, this has also become a new transformation idea - from a simple preschool education institution to a comprehensive learning space for the community.
Currently, "shared care for the elderly and children" is still in the exploration stage.
From the actual situation, many projects still face problems such as high operating costs, insufficient professional talents, and inconsistent regulatory standards. The differences in the needs of children and the elderly in terms of space, safety, and activity organization also make it difficult for many projects to be quickly replicated. How to use kindergarten spaces, how to reconstruct community functions, and how to integrate childcare into the grass - roots public service system are becoming new practical problems.
The focus of the next stage of "shared care for the elderly and children" is not only resource sharing but also inter - generational reciprocity and social learning. The discussion around the "one old and one young" is also gradually extending from care issues to community relations, public spaces, and educational scenarios themselves.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Duojing" (ID: DJEDUINNO), author: Siluo, published by 36Kr with authorization.