The aim of this study was to assess the specific role of parental EF for scaffolding of preschoolers, above and beyond parental verbal ability. Effective scaffolding is conceptualized to involve higher-order cognitive processes such as flexibly shifting and inhibiting responses (Carr & Pike, 2012; Conner & Cross, 2003; Mulvaney et al., 2006). • We hypothesized that higher parental EF would relate to better scaffolding, above and beyond global cognition, indexed by verbal ability