In the Early Childhood Education (ECE) field, the term Developmentally Appropriate Practice, otherwise known as DAP, has been defined many times and many ways. One aspect of DAP that has received recent attention is environment. Because of the accountability emphasis of the No Child Left Behind Act, environment is generally being approached in a formal, checklist-oriented manner. In this article, the author presents a framework for creating an environment that will facilitate DAP. This framework is called RESPECT which stands for relationships, experiences, space and security, play, expectations, caring, and time.