This article identifies similarities and differences between Head Start parents of European American and Puerto Rican backgrounds regarding their socialization goals and expectations concerning the early educational experiences of their pre-school children. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 60 parents (30 European American and 30 Puerto Rican) in their homes. The results show that both groups of parents valued pro-social skills, school readiness skills, and skills related to good behaviour. Both sets of parents considered creative and physical skills to be least important. However, differences between groups were found regarding the relative importance of skills in the different developmental domains. The findings suggest that to maximize the effects of early childhood programmes and interventions it is important that educators and policy makers recognize and respond to differences in parents' goals and expectations. (Contains 4 tables.)