Direct observation of a child's motor performance by a parent was hypothesized to exert an effect on motor behavior. The presence of a parent observer during practice was hypothesized to exert a depressing effect on learning and a facilitating effect on performance when parent observer was introduced later in practice. Male and female children age 6 to 10 years were randomly assigned to two groups. In the parent-present-early group, four 25-second trials on a stabilometer were given with a parent present as a passive observer. An additional 4 trials were given after the parent left the testing area. The parent-present-late group was tested in the same way except the parent was absent during the first 4 trials and passively observed during the last 4 trials. Analysis indicated no significant differences between the parent-present-early and the parent-present-late conditions for the learning trials and the performance trials. Analysis of the final two performance trials revealed that children performing without a parent observer were significantly superior to those performing in the presence of a parent. (Author/JD)