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The relevance of research. The changes taking place in society and culture affect the transformation of such a socio-cultural phenomenon as childhood. Obtaining current knowledge about childhood makes it possible to predict the features of the future society, the adult population of which will consist of modern children. Obtaining data on the similarities and differences of ideas about childhood in children and adults can allow us to build effective educational work with parents. This will help adults better understand children, change the educational and the pedagogical process in accordance with the needs, values, and problems of modern preschoolers. The article presents the results of a study of the peculiarities of ideas about childhood as a phenomenon in older preschool children and parents of older preschoolers and designing on this basis of an educational program for parents.

Organization of the study. The aim of the study was to develop methods and conduct a comparative analysis of children’s and parents’ ideas about childhood and to develop a program of educational activities taking into account the identified features. Diagnostic research tools included modifications of "soft" methods (S.N. Mayorova-Shcheglova): the sociographic method (drawing on a given topic "Children and their childhood", analysis of the depicted event) the collision method (analysis of the verbally presented situation) and the comic book method (inventing the child's replicas of the hero in the presented situations). In addition, an auxiliary method was used – a conversation – for the interpretation of children's drawings and a modified projective technique "Ladder".

Research results. As a result of the study, comparative data were obtained on the specifics of ideas of different generations about the phenomenon of childhood, the peculiarities of the understanding of childhood by modern children and modern parents were identified, on this basis a program of educational activities for parents was developed and tested. The program of educational activities: is focused on the development of parental competence as an integrative ability to solve the problems of development and upbringing of children, which involves the implementation of comprehensive educational work, including stimulating motivation, position formation, enrichment of ideas and the formation of practical skills; involves the organization of a system of individual support of parents, a variety of forms of work, the development of parental reflection, stimulating independence and awareness through keeping a personal diary; practice-oriented, illustrated with a large number of examples and cases from real practice; involves updating the existing experience of parents, helps everyone see points of their own growth.

Conclusions. The program of educational activities was designed on the basis of the data obtained on the specific ideas about the phenomenon of childhood of older preschoolers and parents and is focused on the problems of raising a child in a family that are relevant for modern parents and children.

This article analyzes the development of public and government requirements to definition of duration of work of kindergartens for all period of existence of system of early childhood education in Russia. The results of the monitoring of the attitude of preschool teachers to the introduction of “family schedules” in modern kindergartens, reflecting the advantages and risks of innovation associated with meeting the needs of families in the baby-sitting, as well as the successful solution of educational problems by the joint efforts of the family and kindergarten are presented. The article describes the possibilities of the current regulatory framework for creation of variable working hours of early childhood educational organizations.

The purpose of the study is to determine the reasons and nature of changes in the operation of early childhood institutions in a historical retrospective. The research was based on the experience of the first Russian kindergartens, legal framework defining the work of early childhood institutions during the XX century and at the present stage of development of early childhood education, the results of the survey of 3415 teachers of preschool groups of 22 regions of the Russian Federation, and review of the studies related to the problem under study. The results of the retrospective analysis of the reasons for the change in the duration of work of Russian early childhood institutions during the whole period of their existence, have been presented. It has been revealed that the work regime was determined by the goals of the kindergarten to ensure the full development and upbringing of the child in different historical periods and reflected the leading trends in the country’s social and economic development and the State’s desire to involve women in active social and productive life. This ensured the normative approval of the variation in the work schedules of kindergartens (pre-school groups) depending on the location, needs and demands of families, which is a distinctive feature of modern public early childhood education. Based on the results of the monitoring of teachers’ opinions on the increase in the time of stay of children in kindergarten, possible risks associated with the reduction of the time of communication between parents and children were identified. Today some parents tend to increase the working hours of the kindergarten as they are not ready to communicate with the child, because of their own parent’s failure. The desire of parents to “build up” the schedule of work of the kindergarten, to correlate it with personal needs is often associated with a lack of understanding of the essence of educational work. Tendencies of interaction of teachers with families in order to draw attention of parents to the importance of dialogue with the child have been defined.

The article is devoted to the study of modern six-year-old children and their parents’ fears. Despite numerous studies of childhood fears around the world, the question – while important – of the typical fears of today’s preschoolers, as well as the link between these fears and those of parents in their childhood and those of today, remains poorly investigated. Clarification of this issue was the purpose of the study. To identify children’s fears and own fears of parents, a specially designed questionnaire was used. The questions were answered by fathers and mothers of older preschoolers. The types of childhood fears mentioned in the questionnaire were selected based on the results of existing studies and on a trial experiment. The revealed fears were grouped by subject and orientation. The most common fear of modern preschoolers was fear of separation from parents, which is part of the group of relational. Significant differences between boys and girls were found only in the frequency of occurrence of individual fears: fear of strangers (more often among girls), fear of bad dreams and dentists (more often among boys). The coincidence of some fears of children and their mothers allows us to suggest the transferring of fears from the first to the second, which is confirmed by the results of a survey among mothers during psychological consultations. Between the fears of children and their fathers no matches were found. Opposite trends with age fears among mothers and fathers were detected: mothers’ number of fears increases compared to childhood, fathers decreases. At the same time, there are similar fears of preschoolers’ mothers and fathers, such as fears of heights, loss of relatives, death, snakes, and dogs.