Opinions vary widely as to what young children should know or be capable of doing to be ready for kindergarten. This paper looks at the beliefs held by two groups who play critical roles in the early education of children: parents of preschoolers and kindergarten teachers. Two surveys that were sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and were conducted in the spring of 1993 asked parents and teachers to rate several attributes and attitudes in terms of their importance to any child's readiness for kindergarten. Parents and teachers agreed that it was very important or essential that the children be able to communicate their needs and wants verbally, and that the children be enthusiastic and curious in approaching new activities. There was considerable disagreement on other characteristics, however. A majority of the parents believed that for a child to be ready to enter kindergarten, knowing the letters of the alphabet, being able to count to 20 or more, and being able to use pencils and paint brushes were very important or essential, whereas few kindergarten teachers shared these beliefs. Four tables and seven endnotes are included. Contains 16 references. (MDM)