We’ve helped hundreds of families navigate the admissions process, and we know that parent statements can be one of the most confusing parts of the journey. How can you possibly sum up your child in a few paragraphs? 

Parent statements can be even more of a challenge for younger children. With fewer academic and extracurricular milestones to include in an essay, parents have to spend more time describing their family life and their child’s unique spirit, which can be tricky to capture in words. 

 We’ve found that one of the most helpful ways for parents to conceptualize their own parent statement is to read a sample essay. Here’s a sample parent statement for younger children that does a great job of summing up the child’s personality, and the entire family’s approach to learning and development. 

*Note that this is a fictional parent statement describing a fictional student. 

Sample Parent Statement for Nursery or Elementary Applicants

Prompt: What would you like us to know about your child? 

Ever since she was a baby, Christina has been quiet and contemplative. She is constantly observing any and everything about the world around her, forming her own theories about the way things work and constantly surprising us with the depth of what she notices. We can’t wait to witness how the school environment satiates Christina’s immense curiosity. 

Christina has always been intently focused on taking in information about the world around her. Even as an infant in the crib, Christina’s eyes would follow us everywhere as we moved around her room. Her brow would furrow if we did something new, like rearranging the furniture, and we could see her gears turning as her worldview continued to expand. Now as a toddler, Christina is no different. She has a remarkable ability to keep herself entertained, sitting quietly and watching the world move around her. Later on, at the most random of moments, she’ll bring up something specific that she observed (“Why didn’t Aunt Kate have the same drink as everyone else?” when she was pregnant and wasn’t drinking a beer with the rest of the adults), and we’ll realize how deeply she thinks about the world around her. 

It’s no surprise that for a mind like Christina’s, books are incredible. Reading with one or both of her parents has been Christina’s favorite activity since she was a baby; we make time at least once per day to read for 30 minutes. Christina rapidly processes new pictures, characters, and storylines. She quietly follows along as we read through a story, eyes scanning each page, then usually has several questions at the end of the story: why did a character do this, what will happen next, etc. We’re frequently surprised by the depth of her inquiries, and it’s not uncommon for storytime to spark deep conversations about family, purpose, death, and more. 

Christina’s quiet, thoughtful temperament is incredibly endearing. However, we worry sometimes that she isn’t quite as extroverted as some other young children; Christina prefers to fully evaluate a situation with new people (children or adults) before deciding how to take part. We think that a supportive kindergarten environment will help Christina grow into more of a social butterfly; new friendships and new experiences will help her find a balance between her inquisitive nature and a desire to connect and have fun with other kids.

As parents, we do everything we can to nurture Christina’s passion for exploring and understanding the world. We strive to speak to Christina like she’s an adult, answering her questions as best we can and treating her like a fully present member of the family. We do our best to provide Christina with opportunities to grow and learn more; a short science camp this summer opened Christina up to a whole new world of interesting phenomena, and introduced her to other children who like asking questions. We know that Christina will be an avid student once she begins attending school full-time; we’re sure that her teachers will enjoy the intensely deep questions that come out of nowhere, and appreciate Christina’s dedication to finding and understanding the answer.