This resource provides parents with widely held expectations for their child's development prior to kindergarten and ways parents can encourage their child's growth. Although a child's growth and development follows a general pattern, all children grow at different rates. Some children will be doing things earlier or later than others. There's no need to hurry your child along as time will go by quickly enough. The Early Learning Guidelines breaks a child's development into 7 categories. Throughout this resource, there will be helpful explanations, and suggestions to provide ways to encourage your child's growth and development in each of those areas to better prepare them for school. A directory of family resources is also provided. [This guide was also produced by the Nebraska Early Childhood Interagency Coordination Council (ECICC) and by Head Start State Collaboration. Funding was received from the US American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, US DHHS, Administration for Children and Families. For the main report, "Early Learning Guidelines: Nebraska's Birth to Five Learning and Development Standards. Revised," see ED602831.]