Innumerous factors are responsible for your child's education, especially in the early years. Daycare centers as well as the parents themselves play an important part in the growth and development of children. More often than not, parents are misguided and completely ill-informed on how to educate a child. Given below are some resources that cover a variety of issues as far as educating a very young child is concerned.

• Catalogue Information for programs and courses in Education at Capital

• ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education

• National Parent Information Network (NPIN)

• America's Children - Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 1999, produced by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics

• CYFERNET - Children, Youth, Families Education and Research Network, a national network of Land Grant university faculty and county Extension educators working to support community-based educational programs for children, youth, parents and families.

• Parentsoup, - one of the most popular places on the World Wide Web

• KidsClick! - an annotated metasite created by librarians at the Ramapo Catskill Library System. The site contains nearly 1800 searchable and browse able links.

• Information Please Kids' - Almanac Reference information is grouped into seven categories: people, fun facts, science, world, sports, life, and US.

• National Child Care Information Center - from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

• Childstats.gov - The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics was established in 1994 to coordinate the collection of federal data on child and family issues and conditions. Childstats.gov is the Forum's official Website.

• "Including Your Child" - This U.S. Dept of Education project deals with the first eight years of life for children with special needs.

• Common Sense - With guidance for handling tough situations and access to help and hot lines, this PTA-created site strives to prevent drug abuse in children and teens by educating parents.

• READY*SET*READ - Early Childhood Reading Kit, from the U.S. Department of Education

• The Grimm Brothers National Geographic - presents several Grimm stories - RealPlayer required -great fun, but a bit scary, too.

Copyright 2001, 2004. All rights reserved. Any reproduction of this article in whole or in part without written or verbal permission is strictly prohibited. For information about reprinting this article, contact the copyright owner: Vanessa Rasmussen, Ph.D, Starting a Day Care Center, http://www.startingadaycarecenter.com.