This book is a compilation of created and remixed resources for use in various courses supporting the care and development of infants and toddlers. This textbook is intended to be pulled apart, remixed, reshared, and redistributed in the form that best meets your individual needs. For this reason, this resource has unique characteristics not typical of other textbooks.
• Each chapter or section is stand-alone. No chapter references another or makes statements such as “as you previously read.” This intentional design choice allows you to remix every section without concern about referencing a section you did not copy over.
• The chapters were created around topics we felt should be stand-alone and therefore had different length requirements. For this reason, you will notice a chapter might be 20 pages or 2.
• Chapters contain multiple sections to remix easily and create new and unique chapters for your individual needs.
• You might find repeat information within sections. Since each section is intended as a stand-alone section, information might be repeated within sections to give context to the subject matter. The beauty of OER is you have permission to delete and add as needed.
• We’ve made every effort to keep the original source with the content, as you remix be aware of the license types on each resource.
To best use a small window of time to complete this resource, we decided to forgo many of the extra “bells and whistles” one might find in traditional textbooks, including call-out boxes with additional resources, robust vignettes, and reflection questions. While we feel this resource contains much of the content needed for multiple infant and toddler courses, we eagerly await each improvement upon this resource the infant and toddler educator community bring forth.

Guided by cultural beliefs and principles, families select experiences, convey attitudes, and impart knowledge to their children to prepare them for adulthood. Accordingly, it is important for program staff to learn to collaborate effectively with families. To develop a partnership and to tap into the family as a primary resource, early childhood educators must reach out to, learn about, and develop strong partnerships with families. This process requires openness to learning and an effort to understand the individuality of each family and the diversity of the families from which the children come.