"I have to limit myself on how much I watch," says Hickman, a special-education instructor who allows herself to peek in on her daughter about twice a day. "I'd always think, 'I wonder what Sydney is doing right now.' Then I'd log on and say, 'Oh look, she's napping.' "

The ability to click into her child's life was what drew Hickman to the Learning Curve in Gilbert, Ariz.

Internet cameras, or webcams, ease the separation anxiety of working parents while keeping the staff accountable for the safety and care of the children. The service, beginning to catch on nationwide, caters to a growing demand for improved security in schools and other daycare facilities.

About 300 to 400 U.S. day-care centers have webcams in place, says John Lewison, general manager of WatchMeGrow, a company that specializes in childcare viewing systems. The company has started reaching out to elementary and high schools that want to kick student monitoring up a notch, providing parents with video proof of whether their kids used lunch money for lunch, goofed off in class or even went to class at all.

Hickman says she logs on to the Internet service primarily to check Sydney's eating routines and to see what time she wakes up from her naps, but also to "make sure everybody is doing what they're supposed to be doing." At Learning Curve, webcams are placed only in the rooms of tots age 2 and younger.

"When kids are 3 or 4, they can go home and say, 'Mommy, we did bubbles today,' " says center co-director Penny Kovara. "Babies can't articulate that."

The webcams, each about the size of a smoke detector, capture all the playroom action from the ceilings of the center, giving parents a wide-angle view. There is no sound or zoom capabilities. And changing areas are never shown, which doesn't seem to bother most parents.