Preservice teachers are socialized by their own raced, classed, and gendered experiences to expect “caring parents” to behave and contribute in certain ways to their children's schooling. The existing scholarship on parent involvement and the transition to school takes a top-down approach that discounts the important knowledge parents bring to the table. The article involved a study of 25 African American parent and caregivers, who participated in qualitative interviews. Interviews thematic analyses showed that participants constructed preparation for the transition to school broadly, as preparation for the “real world.”