Ksenia N. Skobelcina

The transition from preschool to school is an important step in the socialization of the child. It is characterized by a change in his position in the system of public relations. Mastering of the new social position is associated with changes in value orientations of the child (first of all the formation of moral orientation should be listed). Child development can be considered as a process of active mastery of the practical ways and means of execution of cognitive activities that have social origins.

Therefore, learning at school is not just an activity that is aimed on knowledge acquisition, but is perceived as own work responsibility of the child that marks change in his/her lifestyle.

Our sociological research showed interesting results concerning parents’ attitudes and beliefs about preschool establishment and school. It was shown that in the present time age of transition from preschool to school is not strictly defined. Most parents consider age of 6-7 years appropriate for school entrance and only small number of parents would give their child to school at 5 years.

When choosing preschool establishment parents base on one main criteria – to provide comfort maintenance of their child. When choosing school parents are paying more attention to content of the curriculum.

The rapid development of technology leads to the fact that the computer will play a special role not only in adult life, but also in the life of a child. This raises the problem of scientific understanding of the extent and significance of the increasing impact of computer information space on the socialization of preschoolers.

This article is based on sociological survey of 1936 parents whose children attend kindergartens in Moscow. More than half of parents confirmed their child’s interaction with the computer. Thus by the time they start school more than 70% of children actively use PC. Boys are more active than girls and are more experienced PC users. As the child grows the role of a computer in the structure of leisure significantly increases. By preschool age the intensity of computer use significantly increases (every third child uses a computer up to six hours daily). At this a third of them prefer to interact with a computer without the help of their parents. An important feature is also the fact that almost half of preschoolers use a computer for games, but not for learning or artistic development. Interaction with the computer is the part of male subculture: father turns out to be the translator of the experience of interaction with the computer to a child.