# 29 THINGS PARENTS DO

## THAT PREDICT SCHOOL READINESS

Below are 29 things parents do with their young children, ages 10-47 months, that predict one or more of the following outcomes when children are old enough to start kindergarten: *Cognitive skills (problem solving, reasoning, science, and math readiness)* *Vocabulary (word knowledge, language ability)* *Literacy skills (recognizing letters, linking speech sounds to letters, recognizing text)* *Social skills (emotion regulation, low rates of aggression)* Our research, on over 4,000 observations of almost 2,000 families, shows that very few parents do all of these things, but all parents do some of these things. And the more parents do these things, the better their children do on school readiness assessments. PICCOLO™ is an observational measure of these behaviors.

1. Speak warmly  
2. Smile at child  
3. Praise child  
4. Stay physically close to child  
5. Say positive things to child  
6. Interact in positive ways with child  
7. Show emotional warmth  
8. Pay attention to what child is doing  
9. Change activities to meet child’s interests or needs  
10. Be flexible when child changes interests  
11. Follow what child is trying to do  
12. Respond to child’s emotions  
13. Look at child when child talks or makes sounds  
14. Reply to child’s words or sounds  
15. Wait for child’s response after making a suggestion  
16. Encourage child to do things with toys  
17. Support child’s choices  
18. Help child do things on his or her own  
19. Verbally encourage child’s efforts  
20. Offer suggestions to help child  
21. Show enthusiasm about what child does  
22. Explain reasons for something to child  
23. Suggest activities to build on what child is doing  
24. Repeat or expand child’s words or sounds  
25. Label objects or actions for child  
26. Engage in pretend play with child  
27. Do activities in a sequence of steps  
28. Talk about characteristics of objects  
29. Ask child for information

*Text adapted by permission from Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO™) Tool by Lori A. Roggman, Gina A. Cook, Mark S. Innocenti, and Vonda Jump Norman, with Katie Christiansen. Copyright © 2013 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.*