Make Every Day a Shining Example

• Remember that investing in young children today assures a brighter future for all of us tomorrow.
• Encourage teens to read to children in centers, family child care settings, churches and hospitals.
• As a grandparent, aunt or uncle, you can make a difference in a child's development through talking, reading, singing and playing.
• As an adult mentor or coach, you can strengthen a child's feelings.
• Retired citizens can volunteer in child care facilities.
• Support education and specialized training for early childhood educators.
• Create a partnership with a local early childhood program by offering resources of time, talents and money.
• Seek volunteer architects and builders to assess, repair and/or renovate child care centers' playgrounds and facilities.
• Distribute child development information through your agency, program or business.
• Encourage your employees to visit or participate in their children's programs.
• Encourage availability of employee benefits that support families.
• Make your vote count on behalf of young children and their families.

Act in Our Children's Best Interest

• Let state legislators know you care about better child care standards.
• Support a rating system to help parents determine the quality of child care centers.
• Become informed about federal and state funding for child care and early education.
• Read and understand the studies about how infants' brains develop.
• Join parent support groups.
• Connect with all of the young children you have contact with: get down on their level, look them in the eye, call them by name, speak calmly with a smile, listen, read and play, let them know you care.