Exploring the Links Between Parental Home Activities, Kindergarten Involvement, Perceptions of Children, and Expectations of Their Skills

Parental home activities foster children’s early skill development and well-being, while perceptions of children’s characteristics, expectations of skills, and kindergarten involvement are linked to parents’ engagement in those activities. Therefore, the aim of the study was to determine the parental perceptions, expectations, and involvement in kindergarten predicting parental math, language, and social home activities. In total, 308 parents of 5-year-old children across Estonia completed a questionnaire. Results indicate that higher academic expectations are associated with greater engagement in language, math, and social home activities. Perceiving fewer cognitive difficulties is associated with more language and math home activities, while greater engagement in home-kindergarten conferencing is associated with more math and social home activities. Interestingly, perceiving more disruptive behaviors is associated with more math home activities. In addition, having children’s books at home is related to social home activities, while parents tend to engage more in language and social activities with girls. The study highlights the importance of strong home-kindergarten cooperation, having high expectations of children’s academic skills and addressing gender biases in parental home activities. The results could be used to provide guidance to parents, carry out interventions, and inform kindergarten and teacher training curricula development.