There are good resources out there on the Internet. Here is our selection of articles for working parents with a focus on child care and before & after school care. Each title is followed by one or more paragraphs taken from the actual article itself. Hopefully these paragraphs will help you decide whether the articles are relevant to your needs and concerns.

• 10 Signs of a Great Preschool

  If your child is between the ages of 3 and 6 and attends a child care center, preschool, or kindergarten program, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) suggests you look for these 10 signs to make sure your child is in a good classroom.

• How Can I Find a High Quality Preschool Program?

  It is also important, when choosing a preschool program for your child, to consider characteristics of your child, of the program, of the preschool staff, and of the program's physical environment.

• Helping Your Child Adjust to Preschool

  The first days at preschool can be unsettling to many preschoolers and to some of their parents as well. Some children become anxious about how to cope all at once with the new adults, groups of strange children, and unfamiliar surroundings. Other children are more upset by the separation from home than by the new experiences. Still others make the transition to the new world with few hesitations. Whatever your youngster's pattern of adjustment turns out to be, the ideas outlined below may help.

• Separation Anxiety in Children

  A preschooler's unwillingness to leave a parent or other beloved adult is a good sign that important attachments have developed. Many experts believe this capacity is a prerequisite for a healthy personality and a satisfying adulthood. Knowing this, however, is small comfort when your youngster is experiencing great difficulty with separation.

• Approaches to School-Age Child Care

  Changes in family structure and values have altered the way in which many children are cared for. More mothers are in the labor force; more families are headed by a single parent; and fewer relatives are available to care for children. Increasing numbers of families are looking for ways to care for their children in before-and-after school programs or through the use of a patchwork quilt of care arrangements.

• Alternatives for At-Risk and Out-of-School Youth

  Educators are considering ways to help youth identified as "at-risk" succeed in school and beyond. Alternative programs (AP) can be effective environments for students who may not fit the mainstream mold and need additional support. Effective AP use a holistic approach that encompasses social, academic, psychological and career-related needs. Eight features of effective alternative programs.

• Are the Children Home Alone? (Don't Worry, Be Savvy)

  Today, even in two-parent families, both parents often work. As a result, many children routinely spend time at home without adult supervision ... Some reports refer to children's "self-care." This term interprets parents' necessary absence from the home (at work) as a choice. Obviously, it usually isn't a choice, and self-care is sometimes not a good alternative. On the other hand, many, if not most, children 11 or older can manage after school. If the areas in which they live are not dangerous, and if parents make plans, "self-care" can be a good experience. Children can, if protected by a set of ground rules, learn to be responsible for themselves.

• Working Parents' Survival Guide

  The Working Parents' Survival Guide is not intended to provide all the answers to parents. Instead, its purpose is to provide information about being a working parent in the 1990s and how to make it work.

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