In the book Early Childhood Education Today 11th Edition, we read that “Family-centered practice is one of the fundamental characteristics of early childhood special education. This follows the fundamental idea that children's development is influenced by their environment: family, teachers, school, city, media, government systems and so on." (MORRISON, 2009) The first thing we teachers must do is recognize that children's families are their children's first and most important teachers and recognize the long-term effect that families have on their children's attitudes and outcomes . For the edification of today's youth there are potential positive responses that can be achieved by working with a child's parents as well as the child themselves. There are six distinctive areas we can focus on to improve children's education. The first concerns the area of ​​parents' knowledge and skills. Here we have the opportunity not only to gain more information about the child, but also to provide information to the child's parents on how they can help their son/daughter in his/her education. According to George S. Morrison, we educators must “assist families with parenting and child-rearing skills, understanding child and adolescent development, and establishing home conditions that support children as learners of all ages and grade levels.” (MORRISON, 2009, p. 491) Through collaboration with the child's parents, we educators are helped to understand the families from which the children come. This provides us with knowledge that allows us to adapt our teaching skills appropriately to children's different learning styles and helps parents know where their child is within... middle of the paper... and the community comes together to care for and assist the children. There are many ways that teachers, school boards and the community can come together to ensure that children and their parents receive love, care, support and guidance. Works Cited Jeff Wike - Executive Director, TB-P. (2011). Promote youth development through services, awareness and collaboration. Retrieved June 19, 2011, from Whitley County Youth Center: http://www.thecentercc.com/MORRISON, G.S. (2009). FAMILY PROBLEMS. In GS MORRISON, Early childhood education today 11th Edition (p. 34). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc. Walker, K. (2011). Appleseed Project The national campaign for the improvement of public schools. Retrieved June 20, 2011, from PACE / Project Appleseed, the national campaign for public school improvement: http://www.projectappleseed.org/