The importance of parental attention in the facilitation of prereading skill development is examined in this paper. The first section presents a historical perspective on attitudes toward early childhood education, touching on the views of educators of past centuries and on recent trends in early childhood education in the United States. The following section, which delineates the influence of health on preschool learning, summarizes studies on the effects of maternal malnutrition upon development and on the relationship between early nutrition, brain development, and mental ability. The third section discusses the linguistic development of preschool children, the effects of adult/child interaction on language development, and the importance of providing opportunities for developing auditory, visual, and perceptual skills. The final section summarizes research results that suggest the importance of home environment in prereading development and identifies characteristics of the homes of deprived children. (GT)