You must read. You must read like you breathe, only more proactively. When someone announces the, say, Newbery winners, you should have read so much that there are no real surprises to you. You must study the books you read, the good ones and the bad, and be able to clearly articulate what does and doesn't work and why. And if you think that you have no time or money to do this, get a different goal because you don't deserve to make it.
Libraries are a godsend.
Publishing companies have real competition within children's media, and you need to do everything in your power to make sure that today's kids are exposed to the best literature. Preserve, protect, and promote the venues that link kids to books. In doing so, you will learn the industry and its surrounding culture. This also counts as writing time. You have to tell the stories that you can somehow continue to work on when you are so sick of them that your eyes water and bile rises in your throat.