Geographers have mainly investigated rural childcare issues from two perspectives. Firstly, the availability and accessibility of childcare services have been examined, and regional disparities in their provision have been analyzed. The second research tradition has focused on meanings related to femininity, motherhood and childcare in rural areas. These studies, which derive their interpretative frame from cultural geography and gender studies, argue that a rural woman’s role, in general, and the salient role of childcare in particular, is related to attitudes towards rural lifestyle, and cultural expectations concerning rural feminity. 

This paper utilizes both these research lines in relation to childcare in rural areas in Finland by investigating everyday practices of childcare, and on this basis, the attitudes and meanings related to motherhood and childcare. Firstly, rural families and how they arrange care for their children under school-age and which services they use are analyzed; the key issue is whether children stay at home or whether they are taken to daycare outside home. Secondly, mothers´ opinions about childcare are examined and interpreted; which is the best arrangement from a child’s point-of-view and for what reason? Also, the argumentation about homecare vis-à-vis daycare in the mothers’ discourses is used to identify the expectations which rural women meet as mothers and providers of care. The empirical data is based on a questionnaire survey that was sent to parents of small children in three rural municipalities that represent different types of rural areas.