Contract With Customer, Contract Term

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount of revenue recognized that was previously included in balance of obligation to transfer good or service to customer for which consideration from customer has been received or is due.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 8
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118956577&loc=SL49130549-203045

+ Details

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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Amount, excluding tax collected from customer, of revenue from satisfaction of performance obligation by transferring promised good or service to customer. Tax collected from customer is tax assessed by governmental authority that is both imposed on and concurrent with specific revenue-producing transaction, including, but not limited to, sales, use, value added and excise.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118956577&loc=SL49130543-203045

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118956577&loc=SL49130545-203045

+ Details

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Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

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- Details

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- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=bfam_FullServiceCenterBasedCareMember
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- Details

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- Details

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- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=bfam_BackupDependentCareAndOtherEducationalAdvisoryServicesMember
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- Details

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Revenue Recognition (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
Revenue Recognition (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2019	Sep. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2019	Mar. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Sep. 30, 2018	Jun. 30, 2018	Mar. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue	$ 520,615	$ 511,584	$ 528,060	$ 501,758	$ 478,241	$ 471,585	$ 489,699	$ 463,657	$ 2,062,017	$ 1,903,182	$ 1,740,905
Deferred revenue, revenue recognized									169,000	154,900
United States
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue									1,600,000	1,500,000	1,300,000
United Kingdom
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue									382,100	371,500	328,000
Full service center-based child care
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue									$ 1,684,006	1,586,323	1,457,754
Full service center-based child care \| Minimum
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Contract term									3 years
Full service center-based child care \| Maximum
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Contract term									10 years
Back-up dependent care
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Contract term									3 years
Revenue									$ 296,330	245,498	224,264
Educational advisory services
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Revenue									$ 81,681	$ 71,361	$ 58,887
Educational advisory services \| Minimum
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Contract term									1 year
Educational advisory services \| Maximum
Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]
Contract term									3 years