html - Center child divs inside parent div

Question

I have a parent div that must stay at 100% with 3 child divs inside. I need to center the 3 child divs, but don't know how.

.parent {
    width: 100%;    
    border: 1px solid blue;
}
    
.child {
    float: left;    
    border: 1px solid red;
    margin: 2px;
}

<div class="parent">
    <div class="child">child1</div>
    <div class="child">child2 - center us child divs! :)</div>
    <div class="child">child3</div>
    <div style="clear: both"></div>
</div>

Answer 1

Try using display: inline-block and text-align: center

.parent {
    width: 100%;
    border: 1px solid blue;
    text-align: center;
}

.child {
    display: inline-block;  
    border: 1px solid red;
    margin: 2px;
}

jsFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/qdHH3/3/