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The paper is devoted to the traditional education of preschool age children in Tabasaran families. The author cites different methods Tabasaran families use to bring up their children. These methods draw heavily on the examples set by the older generation and its experience, national traditions, and Tabasaran folklore. The author describes in detail the instructive stories of the older generation, the most popular Tabasaran legends, parables and stories that have been passed on from one generation to another. Each example of folklore is summed up by the author. The article deals with such an important aspect of sex-based upbringing of preschool children, as introduction of children to work. For example, all girls of the preschool age become accustomed to carpet weaving which is a traditional national craft. The article ends with the author’s appeal to the younger generation about the need to honor the customs and traditions of its people.

The article considers the literary heritage of Gennady M. Tsyferov, a Soviet fairytale writer. Despite the fact that collections of his stories get published now and then, his name remains obscure to large readerships. Notwithstanding this, Tsyferov is considered to have fathered the genre of lyrical short stories. The purpose of the article is to reveal the value of his works for child development. A psychological analysis of Tsyferov’s fairy tales allows to identify a number of important features of his works: its metaphoricalness and imagery, poetry, non-standard interpretations of the surrounding world, “his childish” viewpoint, and his philosophical and parable-like nature. These works are in tune with fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen and Antoine de Saint-Exupery. His tales are of great interest to parents and professionals working in the preschool educational system. It shows that familiarity with Tsyferov’s fairy tales contributes to preschool children’s cognitive, emotional and moral development.