Effect of Parental Interest on the Self-Regulation Ability of Preschool Children

This study was conducted to examine the effect of parental attention on the self-regulation ability of children aged between 48 and66 months who have just started their preschool education. For this purpose, an example of a training program to improve parental interest was prepared for the parents of the children participating in the study. The study group consisted of 40 children who attended an independent kindergarten affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in Nilüfer District of Bursa Province in the 2019 – 2020 academic year and their mothers (40) and fathers (40), totaling 120 people. The “Parental Interest Scale for Children” and the “Preschool Self - Regulation Scale (OÖDÖ)” have been used as data collection tools. In addition, the “General Information Form” was used to obtain information from the participants. The obtained data were analyzed with ’Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS)’ 26 package program. In light of the findings; it was seen that parental attention has an effect on the self-regulation ability of children aged between 48 and66 months who have just started their preschool education, and this positively observed effect is due to an increase in parental interest. As a result, when the correlation test analyzes between parental interest scores and self-regulation skill scores are considered. Parental interest has a positive effect on the self-regulation skills of 48-66-month-old boys and girls who have just started preschool education. Training aimed at improving parental interest is effective in achieving this.


INTRODUCTION
Preschool education, which is one of the most important variables encountered in early childhood, is a turning point in a child 's life (Başal, 2007).This process, which begins with birth, continues until compulsory education.Preschool education, which is based on children 's individual and developmental differences and their differentiated abilities, is implemented by parents and different institutions to benefit children 's emotional, physical, and social development (Başal, 2005).Since starting school is an important stage that determines the quality of a child 's school life in the following years, this first step taken by a child to school is an important situation for both families and children (Dinç, 2010).This period is critical in terms of the child 's personality formation, mental thinking, selfregulation, behavior, emotion, and control skills development (Eke, 2017).Therefore, preschool education aims to raise individuals not only who are able to express themselves easily but also who are inquisitive, curious, problem solver, decider, venerational, potent, and self-mastery.
In preschools, the child prepares for primary school while gathering information about his/her environment and the peer group through play.A child who is trying to acquire many concepts and skills may need support to meet his/her educational needs, even if the socio-cultural status of his /her family is sufficient (Başal, 2005).Preschool educational institutions that implement programs aimed at the development of the child in many ways; this is the first step toward a new environment outside the family environment that the child has become accustomed to and feels confident in.This new environment includes rules that need to be learned and followed, different tasks that need to be done, friends, teachers, and perhaps, from the child's point of view, preschool education institutions are a new social environment with a more structured environment that the child can adapt to when they have the knowledge and skills they need.In this new social environment, where they have to share their toys, wait for their turn, and raise a finger to get a word, they will encounter different requests for social and self-regulation skills in many ways (McClelland & Tominey, 2011).Thus, a child who also develops self-regulation skills can balance despite new demands in his/her new social environment.
The baby has the necessary capacity for self-regulation and development, which can also be perceived as an individual concept due to the suffix "self", from the moment it is born (Adagideli, 2018).A newborn baby 's relationship with his/her family in the first years of life helps him/her to focus and make sense of the stimuli he/she receives from his/her environment.Therefore, parental attention is important for children at every stage of their development.The first learning environment for a child is their family.Therefore, parents can support their children 's self-regulation skills by being models and giving feedback.Motivational words such as "You can" used by parents toward their children effect increasing self-regulation.Therefore, positive statements from parents strengthen children 's beliefs about self-regulation, while negative feedback may affect their existing beliefs.Self-regulation emerges as a multidimensional concept that includes the skills of regulation and control of emotion, attention, behavior, and motivation and develops in the interaction of its dimensions.These skills are of great importance in terms of social competence (Eisenberg et al., 2001) and academic success (Blair, 2002).Moreover, an individual 's belief in their development increases their motivation when their self-efficacy in reaching the desired goal increases.If children think that they are incompetent, they cannot be successful no matter how hard they try (Schunk, 2011).
According to many theories in which learning is defined as a social phenomenon, the socio-cultural environment in which a child lives has an important place in the development of self-regulation skills.Parents ' interests, goals and aspirations for their children, and environmental factors such as schools and teachers are thought to shape how the child, who is a learner, makes sense of themselves.Research shows that the attention of parents is important in the learning and development of children from birth to adolescence (Coyl-Shepherd & Newland, 2012;Flouri, 2006;Smith, Wohlstetter, Kuzin & De Pedro, 2011).It can be expressed as various behaviors and activities that include parents ' goals, desires, expectations, behaviors, and beliefs about children 's education, whether at home or at school (Smith et al., 2011).
The family is the place where preschool children get their first social experiences, and development is quite rapid during this period.Therefore, parental attention is important for preschool children (Wilson & Prior, 2011).Because parental attention is needed for children 's education, socialization,, and solving problem situations (Bridge, 2001).In addition, it is stated that parental attention contributes to the development of children 's cognitive and self-regulation skills and self-concept, to the increase of their knowledge and experience, and that they go to school prepared (Coyl-Shepherd & Newlad, 2012;Jeynes, 2011).Even if the living conditions, economic status, or education level of the families differ, parental attention increases children 's academic achievement, ensures that they are ready for school, supports them in acquiring positive attitudes and behaviors, and is effective in developing self-confidence, social and communication skills, and positive peer relationships (Fan & Chen, 2001;Hill & Craft, 2003;Kim, 2002).
According to many studies, the basics of the concept of self-regulation date back a long time and that it appeared in the educational literature in the 1980s under the influence of the social cognitive theory of Albert Bandura (Bandura, 1991).Studies conducted on selfregulation in different countries have been widespread for years, and self-regulation behaviors have been studied in different dimensions.Although the participants, theoretical bases, and variables of the studies vary independently of each other, the research results show that the ability to self-regulate has an important place in a person 's development, learning, and social relationships.This case shows that self-regulation goes beyond the individual dimension and is an important basis in the formation of society (Polnariev, 2006).Interest in self-regulation skills has increased in Turkey recently, and research on selfregulation skills in the early childhood has been conducted (Adagideli, Sarac & Ader, 2015;Fındık Tanrıbuyurdu and Güler Yıldız, 2014;Sop, 2016;Tutkun, Tezel Şahin & Işıktekiner, 2016).
Self-regulation, which begins with the individual 's life and changes and progresses with age, as in other areas of development, guides the development and adaptation processes of individuals.Since self-regulation skills first begin reactively, reflexes and events in the environment are influenced in the first months of life.Because the baby creates internal control during this period, they create self-regulation systems by deliberately directing their behavior over time with the experiences they have gained during the growth and maturing processes (Bronson, 2000).The development of self-regulation, which is based on the satisfaction of basic needs in infancy, is influenced by many factors such as innate temperament, memory capacity, family environment, language development, and selfperception throughout the process (Acar Şengül & Yükselen, 2015;Fındık Tanrıbuyurdu, 2012;Williams, 2014).The environment influenced the child throughout his development, including his mother and father as his first teachers.Each child has an innate potential to become a philosopher, an artist, or perhaps a scientist.What is extremely important in terms of child development is to ensure that the child is aware of his or her potential and has the opportunity to use this potential (Cüceloğlu, 2021).
A child who grows up in a balanced and consistent attitude with parental attention can reach adulthood as an individual.Unfortunately, not all parents are functional or supportive, and this causes different parent behaviors than they used to be.A child who starts preschool education for the first time becomes involved in various educational environments.In this process, the child 's competencies or skills affect their potential for adaptation and learning.Therefore, parental attention affects the child 's self-regulation ability.The ability of individuals to alter their individual feelings and behaviors or selfregulation is an important process for preschool children to cope with difficulties (Loomis, 2021).Considering that today 's children also need properly directed parental attention, it is important to determine whether parental attention affects the self-regulation skills.
In this context, it becomes important to analyze the parent training program's effect, which is being prepared to increase the interest of parents, and the effect of this effect on children 's self-regulation skills.This research aims to examine the effect of parental interest on the self-regulation skills of preschool children by focusing on parental interest along with self-regulation skills.In line with this purpose, the study aimed to determine how much the training program for parental interest, which was prepared to improve parental interest, increased parental interest and how much the increased parental interest affected the child 's self-regulation skills.In addition, considering the data obtained, it is thought that developing comments and suggestions that are thought to contribute to parents, preschool education institutions, and researchers can also guide regulations such as parent training that can be carried out for parents.
The problem statement of the study was determined as "Is parental interest effective on the 48-66-month-old children's self-regulation skills who have just started their preschool education?".The following research questions are analyzed within the scope of this study: 1. Is there a significant relationship between the mothers of 48-66-month-old children's interest levels who have just started preschool education, who received and did not receive training on parental interest?
2. Is there a significant relationship between the interest levels of fathers of 48-66month-old children who have just started preschool education, who received and did not receive training on parental interest?
3. Is there a significant relationship between the self-regulation skills of children of parents who received and did not receive training to improve parental interest?
4. Is there a significant relationship between 48-66-month-old children's selfregulation skills who have just started preschool education and maternal attention?
5. Is there a significant relationship between 48-66-month-old children's selfregulation skills who have just started preschool education and paternal attention?

The Research Model
In the study, a quasi-experimental research pattern with a pre-test, post-test, and retention test control group was used to examine the effect of parental interest on the acquisition of self-regulation skills of children who are new to preschool education.Experimental research is the research in which the most accurate results are obtained for scientific methods because the researcher applies comparable processes and then studies their effects.Therefore, the results of the research leading the researcher to definite interpretations are expected (Karasar, 2016).In the pattern, the dependent variable is the acquisition of self-regulation skills by children who have just started preschool education without training on parental interest, that is, without intervention and the existing interest of parents, and the independent variable is the family training program to increase parental interest developed by the researcher based on parental interest, the effect of which is examined on the acquisition of self-regulation skills by children who have just started preschool education.In the study, a mixed pattern with 2x3 experimental and control groups, pretest, posttest,, and permanence test was used.

Study Group
In the formation of the study group a kindergarten connected to the Ministry of National Education was selected from the official institutions in Nilüfer district of Bursa province in the 2019-2020 academic term.First, interviews were conducted with kindergarten administrators and schoolteachers to determine the classes of children who were new to preschool education with similar socio-cultural characteristics.Then, experimental and control groups classes were determined from the 48-66-month group classes that were determined to have similar characteristics.The criterion sampling method was used to determine the children to be included in the experimental and control groups, and certain criteria were considered.These criteria are that the children have just started preschool education, the children 's parents are alive, the children 's parents are actively communicating and spending time together even if they are divorced, and the children 's parents have not received training on parental care, family education, etc. Considering that the families of the children in the control group may be indirectly affected by the families receiving training, the control group was selected from the morning and the experimental group from the afternoon groups.Because of all these procedures, the experimental group consisted of 20 48-66-month-old children, 20 mothers, and 20 fathers, and the control group consisted of 120 participants, including 20 48-66-month-old children, 20 mothers, 20 fathers.By analyzing the information in the general information forms used, it was determined that the experimental and control groups had similar characteristics.
In the study, the Preschool Self-Regulation Scale was applied to the children as a pretest to determine whether the self-regulation skills of the children in the experimental and control groups were equivalent before the intervention.According to the information in Table 1, the median score of the positive emotion sub-dimension (1.82) of the self-regulation skill levels of the children in the experimental group and the mean score of the positive emotion sub-dimension (1.58) of the children in the control group were close to each other.From the self-regulation skill levels of children, attention impulse control was observed to be almost the same in the experimental and control groups (1,645 and 1,695), respectively.Among the self-regulation skill levels of the children in the experimental group, the standard deviation of the attention impulse control sub-dimension was (1.09) in the control group (1.24), and the standard deviation of the positive emotion sub-dimension was (0.86 and 0.84) in the experimental and control groups, respectively.To conclude, children in the experimental and control groups had almost the same self-regulation skills before application.
Before starting the training program prepared by the researcher to improve parental interest with the mothers, the interest levels of the mothers of the children in the experimental and control groups were determined by applying the Maternal Interest Scale as a pre-test.When the data in Table 2 were examined the fact that the mothers of the children in the experimental and control groups, respectively, had an average score of (55.0 and 58.75) interest in control, an average score of (45.95 and 49.65) interest in developing behavior, an average score of (19.40 and 21.20) interest in school, and an average score of (9.75 and 9.55) for interest in developing interests According to the pre-test results of the mothers in the experimental and control groups, their interest levels for control were higher than the other interest levels, whereas their interest levels for developing interests were the lowest According to these results, the mothers of the children in the experimental and control groups who participated in the study were close to each other before receiving training on parental interest.
Before starting the training program prepared by the researcher with the fathers of the children who were in the experimental and control groups to improve parental interest, the interest levels of the fathers were determined by applying the father interest scale as a pre-test.When the data in Table 3 were examined, it was found that the fathers of the children in the experimental and control groups, respectively, had an average score of (41.70 and 46.25) interest in control, an average score of (63.45 and 63.85) interest in behavior development, and an average score of (32.20 and 32.10) interest in school.Based on the pretest results of the fathers in the experimental and control groups, their interest levels for developing behavior were higher than the other interest levels, whereas their interest levels for school were at the lowest level.According to these results, the fathers of the children in the experimental and control groups who participated in the study were almost equal before receiving training on parental interest.When the data in Table 2 and Table 3 are compared, the fathers who were in the experimental and control groups had higher levels of interest in developing behavior than the mothers, whereas the mothers had higher levels of interest in the control group than the fathers.

Data Collection Tools
Considering the research questions of the study, the researcher used the Preschool Self-Regulation Scale and the Scale of Parental Interest in Children as data collection tools to define the problem in detail and to obtain data about the solution of the problem.In addition, the General Information Form was used to form the experimental and control groups.
The "Preschool Self-Regulation Scale" which developed by Smith-Donald et al. (2007) and adapted to Turkey by Fındık Tanrıbuyurdu and Güler Yıldız (2014), was used to assess the children's self-regulation skills included in the study.In a validity and reliability study conducted in Turkey, the Preschool Self-Regulation Scale was found to be reliable for measuring children 's attention, emotions, and impulses because it was compatible with the original version (Fındık Tanrıbuyurdu, 2012).In this study, it was found that the scale consisted of two factors: positive emotion and attention/impulse control.The Cronbach 's alpha coefficient (α) calculated for reliability was found to be .83.In the sub-dimensions of the scale, Cronbach 's alpha reliability coefficients (α) were found to be .80for the Positive Emotion sub-dimension and .88 for Attention/Impulse Control.The correlation coefficient was determined to be .86.The scale has a high level of reliability in terms of measuring children 's self-regulation skills.It is known that the closer Cronbach's alpha value is to 1, the higher the reliability value (Büyüköztük et al., 2008).
The "Parental Interest Scale for Children" developed by Sucuoğlu et al. (2015) to determine the level of interest of parents of 4-6-year-old children attending preschool education toward their children was also used to evaluate the interest levels of the parents of the children included in the study.The item-total correlations for all items differ between 0.31 and 0.62 in the maternal interest scale and between 0.24 and 0.72 in the paternal interest scale, and the t-values are significant (p<.001) (Sucuoğlu et al., 2015).Therefore, the items in maternal and paternal interests scales have high reliability and are intended to measure similar behaviors.Consisting of 34 items, the total internal consistency coefficient of the maternal interest scale was 0.91.The total internal consistency coefficient of the 40-item father interest scale was 0.94 (Sucuoğlu et al., 2015).According to these values, the reliability level of the mother 's interest and father 's interest scales is acceptable.
The researcher attempted to prepare a training program aimed at improving parental interest and self-regulation skills, raising awareness of families about the child 's home or school education, and enabling families to evaluate their attitudes and beliefs.Sessions were held with parents.The training program, which was planned for eight sessions (8 weeks), lasted for 3 h one day a week, and the researcher used various methods and techniques to ensure the active participation of the participants.

Data Collection
During the stage of data collection, kindergarten was visited and the children were told that a study would be conducted with them.A voluntary participation form and a general information form were sent to the families through the teachers, and the families were asked to return them after they were filled in.The Preschool Self-Regulation Scale was administered to the children of the families in the experimental and control groups who returned the form, and the Parental Concern Scale was administered to the parents of the children as a pre-test at the beginning of the 2019-2020 academic year.After the necessary environment was prepared, individual practices began and the researcher administer Preschool Self-Regulation Scale.After the training program, the Preschool Self-Regulation Scale was administered to both the experimental and control groups as a post-test.To determine whether the education given was permanent or not, the Preschool Period Self-Regulation Scale was applied to the children who were in the experimental and control groups one month after the post-test by the researcher, and their retention was evaluated with the retention test.
After the implementation of the training program for the parents was completed, the Parental Concern Scale was administered to the parents of the children in the experimental and control groups as a post-test.Furthermore, one month after the post-test, the Parental Concern Scale was reapplied to the parents of the children in all groups, and their permanence was evaluated using the retention test.

Data Analysis
The General Information Form, in which general information about the children and their parents was collected, and children's pre-test, post-test, and retention test scores from the Preschool Period Self-Regulation Scale and their parents from the Parental Concern for Children Scale were entered into the computer environment, and appropriate statistical analyzes were performed.In the study, two groups, experimental and control, were studied, and the data obtained were analyzed with the SPSS 26 package program using software.

FINDINGS
In this stage of the study, the findings obtained in accordance with the research questions are presented.

Findings for the First Sub-Problem
To reach the findings related to the study's first sub-problem, the "Scale of Parental Interest in Children" was administered to the mothers.The findings obtained from the scale applied to the mothers are shown below in Table 4, 5, and 6.According to the results given in Table 4, a significant difference is observed between the interest levels of the mothers of the children who were in the experimental group before and after receiving training on parental interest (p> 0.05).The training increased the level of the mother's interest.According to these results, the training provided to improve parental interest had a significant effect on improving maternal interest.However, when Table 4 is examined, it is seen that a significant difference is present between the pretest and posttest scores of the interest levels of the mothers of the children who were in the control group (p> 0.05).Mothers who were in the control group did not receive training on improving parental interest can be resulted as conclusion.When Table 5 is analyzed, it is seen that a significant difference is present between the posttest and retention test scores of the mothers of the children who were in the experimental group according to the Wilcoxon signed rank test results (p˃ 0.05).These results show that the training given to improve parental interest was effective in increasing the interest levels of the mothers of the children in the experimental group and that the effect continued in the measurements one month later.In other words, the training permanently increased the level of maternal interest.A significant difference was present between the post-test and retention test scores of the mothers of the children in the control group (p> 0.05).When the rank averages and rank sums of the difference scores are examined, it is seen that this difference supports the negative ranks, that is, the post-test scores.This result confirms the findings in Table 4 and can be interpreted because the mothers in the control group did not receive training on improving parental interest.As seen in Table 6, when the relationship between the experimental and control groups in the pre-test, post-test, and retention test of maternal interest levels was analyzed according to the Mann -Whitney U test results, a statistical difference was observed between the experimental and control groups (p < 0.05).

Findings for the Second Sub-Problem
To reach the findings related to the study's second sub-problem, the "Scale of Parental Interest in Children" was administered to the fathers.The findings obtained from the scale applied to the fathers are shown in Tables 7, 8, and 9.According to the results given in Table 7, a significant difference is observed between the fathers ' interest levels of the children who were in the experimental group before and after receiving training on parental interest (p < 0.05).The training increased the father's interest.According to these results, the training provided to improve parental interest had a significant effect on improving father interest.However, when Table 7 is examined, a significant difference is observed between the pre-test and post-test scores of the interest levels of the fathers of the children who were in the control group (p < 0.05).As far as the rank median and rank sum of the difference scores, it is seen that this difference is in favor of the negative ranks, that is, the pretest score.This result can be interpreted because the fathers in the control group did not receive training on improving parental interest.When Table 8 is examined, a significant difference is observed between the posttest and permanence test scores of the fathers of the children who were in the experimental group according to the Wilcoxon signed rank test results (p˃ 0.05).These results show that the training permanently increased the father's interest.A significant difference was present between the post-test and permanence test scores of the fathers of the children in the control group (p> 0.05).This result that father interest affects the fathers in control group positively.As seen in Table 9, when the relationship between the experimental and control groups in the pre-test, post-test and permanence tests of father's interest levels was analyzed according to the results, no statistically significant difference was found between the experimental and control groups in the pre-test (p>0.05).Table 9 shows a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the post-test and permanence tests (p<0.05).According to the final the post-test and permanence test mean scores, the experimental group 's score was higher than that of the control group.

Findings for the Third Sub-Problem
To reach the findings related to the third sub-problem of the study, the "Preschool Self-Regulation Scale" was applied to the children.The findings obtained from the scale applied to the children are shown in Tables 10, 11, and 12.According to Table 10, a significant difference is observed between the scores of the experimental group children 's self-regulation skills before and after receiving training to improve their parents ' parental interest (p<0.01).With regard to these results, parental interest has a significant effect on developing children 's self-regulation skills.However, when Table 10 is examined, a significant difference is observed between the pre-test and post-test scores of the children's self-regulation skills in the control group (p<0.01).As far as the rank median and rank sum of the difference scores, it is seen that this difference supports the negative ranks, that is, the pretest score.This result can be attributed to parental interest development were not given to the parents whose children were in the control group.As seen in Table 11, a significant difference was present between the children's selfregulation skills in the experimental group after their parents participated in the training to improve parental interest and one month after the program ended (p>0.01).These results showed that the training given to parents to improve parental interest was effective in increasing children 's self-regulation skills in the measurements 1 month later.Likewise, a significant difference was present (p<0.01) between the children's self-regulation skills in the control group (p<0.01) and the scores of the children in the experimental group after participating in the training and one month after the end of the training (p<0.01).The fact that the difference in the control group favored the post-test scores can be interpreted as a result of the lack of training for parents in this group.
Table 12 shows the findings of the pretest -posttest-permanence self-regulation scale scores of the children in the experimental and control groups.When the relationship between the experimental and control groups in the pre-test, post-test, and permanence test of children 's self-regulation levels was analyzed according to the Mann -Whitney U test results in Table 12, there was a statistical difference between the experimental and control groups (p < 0.05).

Findings for the Fourth Sub-Problem
Relationship between findings of "Preschool Self-Regulation Scale" administered to children and the "Parental Concern for Children Scale" administered to mothers are presented in Table 13 for reaching the fourth sub-problem of the study.According to Table 13, a statistically significant difference was found between the maternal interest score and children 's self-regulation score (p < 0.05).In other words, Table 13 can be interpreted as indicating that maternal interest affects self-regulation skills.When Table 14 is examined, according to the correlation analysis between maternal interest and child's self-regulation skill scores, there is a positive relationship between maternal interest and self-regulation score.This result can be interpreted as, level of maternal interest significantly affect the self-regulation skills of 48-66-month-old children who have just started preschool education.

Findings for the Fifth Sub-Problem
The relationship between the "Preschool Self-Regulation Scale" administered to children and the "Parental Interest Scale for Children" administered to fathers is given in Table 15 for reaching findings related to the fifth sub-problem of the study.As seen in Table 15, a statistically significant difference was found between the father's interest score and the children's self-regulation score (p < 0.05).In other words, level of interest of fathers affect the children 's self-regulation skills.According to the correlation analysis between father 's interest and child's selfregulation skill scores, there is a positive relationship between father 's interest and selfregulation score.This result can be interpreted as father's interest level affects children's self-regulation skills.

CONCLUSION, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
A summary of the results obtained based on the findings and recommendations based on these results are given.

Conclusion and Discussion
The study, which aims to examine the effect of parental interest on the self-regulation skills of preschool children and to determine how much the parental education program to improve parental interest, which was tried to be prepared by the researcher, increases parental interest and how much the increased parental interest affects the child's selfregulation skills, sought answers to five questions.

Conclusion and Discussion of the First Sub-Problem
Because of the analysis, a statistically significant difference was discovered between the post-test scores of the mothers who received training to increase parental interest and against other mothers who did not.According to this result, the training on parental interest was effective in increasing maternal interest in the experimental group.It was also found that a significant difference was in the groups ' maternal interest permanence test scores.Based on this result the education provided to increase parental interest is effective in increasing maternal interest.It is expected that a significant difference is present in the test findings of the mothers who were in the experimental group who participated in the training program aimed at increasing parental interest compared with the mothers who did not participate in this training.It is thought that the explanations and practices given to the mothers and fathers who were in the experimental group were effective in the mothers ' ability to manage their interests toward their children correctly.
It is possible for parents to develop desirable attitudes toward child development and education and to develop a conscious environment for their children only through training (Kaya, 2002).When the literature was examined, different studies examining the effect of training given to parents on child development were encountered.Bedel's (2017) study investigated whether the mother training program had an effect on the relationship of children with special needs with their children and child-rearing styles.Because of the research, it was observed that mothers ' democratic attitudes and mother-child relationship increased after the training.In Landy and Menna 's study (2006), the effectiveness of group training given to mothers of aggressive children aged 3-6 years was examined.According to the results obtained; while an increase was observed in mothers ' self-efficacy skills and knowledge level, a decrease was observed in children 's behavioral problems.In a study in which the effect of this training program on the attitudes and behaviors of parents was examined by providing training on different subjects needed by parents with children in the 5-6 age group; a statistically significant difference was observed in some sub-dimensions of the parents as teachers inventory (Bolat, 2011).In light of all this information and the results of the research analysis, it is thought that the training provided to enhance parental interest is effective in improving the interest level of mothers.

Conclusion and Discussion of the Second Sub-Problem
Because of the analysis, it was concluded that a significant difference was present between the scores of the fathers of the experimental group before and after receiving training to increase parental interest.According to these results, the training given to increase parental interest had a significant effect on increasing fathers ' interests.A significant difference was found between the pre-test and post-test scores of the fathers in the control group.However, this difference is interpreted as a decrease in the father's level of interest.This result may be because the fathers in the control group did not receive training to increase father interest.
It was concluded that a significant difference was present between the scores of the fathers in the experimental group after receiving the training and one month after the training ended.In other words, the training given to improve parental interest was effective in increasing parental interest and that it showed its effect in the measurements 1 month later.However, a significant difference was present between the post-test and permanence test results of the fathers in the control group.While there was no increase in the level of interest of the fathers who were in the control group after the experiment, there was an increase in the level of interest of the fathers one month after the end of the experiment.This result that in post-experimental period, factors of parental interest affects fathers in a positive way.
With the training to be given to parents, their self-confidence can be strengthened and they can be provided with the necessary information and abilities to establish healthy communication with their children (Bolat, 2011).When the literature was examined, it was seen that there were studies examining the effectiveness of the trainings given to parents.In Taşkın and Erkan 's (2009) study, fathers were given training and the effect of the training on the fathers ' level of caring for their children aged 2-9 years was aimed to be revealed.According to the results obtained, it was observed that the training was effective.Fathers who participated in the study increased the frequency of participating in their children 's games, verbally communicating with them, going out together, teaching them something new, taking care of their daily care, and taking care of their children at special times.Gunderson (2004) examined the effects of education and stress management training for parents of preschool children and found that the family education program improved children 's positive behaviors, while the stress management program helped reduce parents ' stress.In addition, it was revealed that parents felt more competent after the training.Some of the above studies also supports parenting trainings are effective.Therefore, it is thought that the training provided to improve parental interest within the scope of the research is effective in improving the interest level of fathers.

Conclusion and Discussion of the Thirth Sub-Problem
Because of the analysis, it was concluded that a significant difference was present between the scores of the children's self-regulation skills in the experimental group before and after their parents participated in the training to increase parental interest.To conclude, a significant difference in children 's test results is expected.According to this result, it can be interpreted that an increase in the level of parental interest is effective in the development of self-regulation skills of their children.In addition, the education given to increase parental interest was also effective in measuring the children's self-regulation skills in the experimental group one month later.In the children's self-regulation skills in the control group, there was no significant difference between the scores before and after the training given to the parents.However, a significant difference was observed between their scores 1 month after the end of the experiment.There was a halo effect in the control group.In other words, learning that participants are involved in research may cause positive changes in their behaviors and skills (Başal, 2014).In addition, because this result was in favor of the pretest scores, parents in the control group were not given training to increase parental interest.Vardar's (2015) study observed that most mothers responded positively to the items in the sub-dimensions of maternal interest in school and interest in control, and this positively affected children 's achievement.The fathers who participated in the study encouraged their children to do better and showed their satisfaction with their children 's success.This is a situation that positively affects the child's success.The father 's presence in the family and taking an active role in the child 's life positively affects children 's intellectual development and academic success, as well as developing internal control along with many skills in social and emotional development (AÇEV, 2017).

Conclusion and Discussion of the Fourth Sub-Problem
According to the correlation analysis between maternal interest and children 's selfregulation skill scores, there is a positive relationship between the two.In other words, the two results support each other.According to the results obtained from the analysis, the level of maternal interest affect the self-regulation skills of 48-66-month-old children who have just started preschool education.In addition, it is thought to show the importance of the education given to improve parental interest.The baby 's early interaction with its environment starts from birth, in other words, its experiences directly affect brain development (De Bellis, 2001).According to Nelson and Bloom (1997), early experiences are effective in the formation of synapses, whereas lack of experience is thought to be related to the failure of synapses to develop.In the brain of a newborn baby, there are one hundred billion neurons, most of which are not connected to each other.These neurons begin to connect to each other with stimuli such as sound, touch, sight, taste, and smell during the 0-3 years of age.As the baby 's relationship with its environment increases and as it becomes more connected to the mother, father, family members, and other caregivers who take care of it, the connection and strengthening of neurons increases.The number of connections between brain cells may increase or decrease depending on the baby 's environment and the stimuli it receives from its environment.Neurons connected to each other by small gaps called synapses from clusters that fulfill various functions of the brain.Synapse connections, which are formed in the early period and strengthened by repeated experiences, affect the child 's lifelong learning capacity as well as their physical and mental development.Children 's brain development can be helped by touching, talking, singing, and reading to them (Akdağ, 2015).Therefore, the most decisive factor in this process is the parents (Nelson & Bloom, 1997).The relationship with adults who assume the role of care can affect brain development positively or negatively.When the literature was examined, studies examined the effect of parental behaviors on child development.Relevant, supportive, and warm parental behaviors have a positive effect on children 's development (Bayındır, 2016).Insensitive mothers who exhibit indifferent and punitive behaviors may negatively affect their children's self-regulation skills (Eisenberg et al., 2001).Children who interact with their parents develop their own emotion regulation by modeling their emotion regulation behaviors (Calkins & Fox, 2020).When research on the nature of the relationship between mother and child and their childrearing behaviors is examined, it is noteworthy that the focus is on the effects of mothers on children in emotion regulation.When the studies conducted in Turkey are examined, it is seen that maternal attention has a positive effect on children 's emotion regulation skills (Altan, 2006;Metin, 2010).Based on these explanations, it is thought that maternal attention also has a positive effect on children 's self-regulation skills.

Conclusion and Discussion of the Fifth Sub-Problem
According to the correlation analysis between father 's interest and children 's selfregulation skill scores, a positive relationship was concluded between them.Based on these results, the self-regulation skills of 48-66-month-old children who have just started preschool education are affected by the level of father's interest.It is thought that this result also shows the effect of the education provided to improve parental interest.
According to researchers, parenting is accepted as a predictor of self-regulation skills (Olson et al, 2002).The quality of early care has a very important role in the development of children 's self-regulation skills.The social environment of a newborn infant is usually defined as the interaction with a caregiver called a parent or caregiver (Kopp, 1982).The quality of the home environment and caring parents positively affect the success of their children, and children learn what to pay attention to in their environment with the guidance of parents.This support can enable children who take responsibility for self-regulation to transition from someone else 's regulation to self-regulation in independent tasks.In particular, the positive support given to a newborn baby until the age of 2 positively affects the acquisition of self-control skills that develop between the ages of 2 and4 (Bayındır, 2016).
Based on these explanations, it is thought that the father's interest has a positive effect on the child 's self-regulation skills.

Recommendations
According to the results obtained from this study, it was determined that the selfregulation skills of 48-66-month-old boys and girls who have recently started preschool education were positively affected by parental interest.In this direction and in light of the information in the literature, the following recommendations were made for parents, teachers, and researchers.

Recommendations for Parents
• Children develop in a healthy family environment.Therefore, parents should first strengthen communication among themselves and seek support from family counseling when needed.• Parents should see their children as part of the team and should always talk to them about everything.For this, parents should organize weekly family meetings and share ideas about the issues that are needed.• Parents should give the same amount of attention to their children.
A child who feels that attention has gone away from him/her tries to attract attention again by showing a change in behavior.Therefore, instead of praising their children, parents should observe them well and provide feedback when they perform the desired behavior.• Parents should manage parental attention in the right way to support self-regulation.
For this, parents should participate in training programs on parental interest organized by experts.• Parents should believe in their children's innate potential and create environments that will enable them to manage their interests correctly and allow their children to explore the world.Therefore, parents should enable their children to participate in demos of various activities such as sports, music, etc. to manage their interests and allow them to progress in line with their own preferences.

Recommendations for Teachers
• Preschool teachers should prioritize parent education by directing the educational institutions where they work.They should prepare programs that will enable parents to take care of their children both at school and at home and work to increase parental interest.• Pre-school teachers should include topics related to self-regulation skills when reporting their requests and demands for in-service training from the educational institutions where they work.• Preschool teachers should prepare and implement programs that include selfregulation in educational activities after receiving expert training.Teachers should include activities that will contribute to the development of children 's selfregulation and 21st century skills, including methods that enable children to organize and develop their own learning processes, and organize the classroom environment with appropriate materials accordingly.
• Preschool teachers should benefit from the measurement tools they will use to assess children 's self-regulation skills after the expert training they will receive and should ensure that parents are aware of their children 's development by providing interviews.

Recommendations for Researchers
• This study was conducted with children aged 48-66 months.Studies examining the effect of parental interest on different concepts or skills of children at different age periods should be conducted.
• A qualitative study should be conducted to examine the views of teachers on the applicability of the comprehensive training program prepared to improve parental interest in schools, and the applicability of the training program should be expanded.
• A study examining the effect of the frequency of technology use on parental interest and the effect of this effect on children 's behaviors should be conducted.
• The data of this study were collected before the COVID-19 pandemic.A similar study should be conducted to examine the effect of the pandemic on parents ' interest and children's self-regulation skills.
• A study should be conducted to examine the effect of the family environment created by the process of working from home due to the pandemic on parental interest and the change of this effect on children 's behavior.
As seen in this study, which examines the effect of parental attention on the selfregulation skills of 48-66-month-old children who have just started preschool education, parents have a great influence on the life of a baby, which begins like a story.Therefore, it is extremely important to ensure that prospective parents receive training to strengthen their motherhood and fatherhood roles before establishing a home, a family, or having a child.Because although life begins like a story, it is possible to see the traces of parents on how this story ends.

Table 1
Self-Regulation Skills of Children in Experimental and Control Groups Pre-Test Scale Scores

Table 2
Maternal Interest Pre-Test Scale Scores of Mothers in the Experimental and Control Groups

Table 3
Father 's Interest Pre-Test Scale Scores of Fathers in Experimental and Control Groups

Table 4
Pretest and Posttest Maternal Concern Scale Scores of Mothers in the Experimental and Control Groups

Table 5
Posttest -Retention Test Maternal Concern Scale Scores of Mothers in the Experimental and Control Groups

Table 6
Pretest -Posttest-Persistence Test Maternal Concern Scale Scores of Mothers in the Experimental and Control Groups

Table 7
Pre-Test and Post-Test Father Interest Scale Scores of Fathers in the Experimental and Control Groups

Table 8
Posttest -Retention Test Father Interest Scale Scores of Fathers in the Experimental and Control Groups

Table 9
Pretest -Posttest-Persistence Test Father Interest Scale Scores of Fathers in the Experimental and Control Groups

Table 10
Pre-Test and Post-Test Self-Regulation Scale Scores of Children in the Experimental and Control Groups

Table 11
Posttest Retention Test Self-Regulation Scale Scores of Children in the Experimental and Control Groups

Table 12
Self-Regulation Scale Scores of Children in the Experimental and Control Groups in the Pre-Test-Post-Test-Persistence Test

Table 13
Relationship between Maternal Interest Score and Child Self-Regulation Skills Score

Table 14 Correlation
Test between the Maternal Interest Score and Child Self-Regulation Skills Score

Table 15
Relationship between Father Interest Score and Child Self-Regulation Skills Score

Table 16
Correlation Test between Father Interest Score and Child Self-Regulation Skills Score