Little is known about how supportive relationships and parent communities materialize, or fail to materialize, in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings characterized by family diversity. This paper explores parents’ lived experiences of belonging and non-belonging through semi-structured interviews with 12 parents of children from diverse backgrounds in two preschools in Reykjavík, Iceland. The children of these parents were 5–6 years old and would make the transition to primary school in the next school year. Interviews focused on parents’ experiences of their child’s time at the preschool, relationships with peers, educators and other families and the forthcoming transition to primary school. Findings suggested varied parental attitudes. While some reported benefits from belonging to a preschool community, others preferred to keep their distance or actively retained boundaries between home and school spheres. For these latter parents, belonging was framed as a matter of choice, influenced by factors such as time and language. A nuanced understanding of time as both facilitating belonging and a limited resource to be managed emerged from the study. These perspectives have implications for how policymakers and educators might facilitate belonging but also the importance of respecting those parents who choose to remain ‘outside’ the preschool community.

在以家庭多样性为特征的幼儿教育和照料（ECEC）的环境中，人们对支持性关系和父母社区如何实现或未能实现的了解甚少。本文通过对冰岛雷克雅未克两所幼儿园中来自不同背景的12名来自不同背景的孩子的父母进行半结构化访谈，探讨了父母的归属和非归属生活经历。这些父母的子女为5-6岁，并将在下一个学年过渡到小学。访谈的重点是父母对孩子在学龄前的经历，与同龄人，教育者和其他家庭的关系以及即将过渡到小学的经历。研究结果表明父母的态度各不相同。尽管有些人报告称自己受益于学龄前社区，其他人则希望保持距离或积极保留家庭和学校领域之间的界限。对于这些后代的父母，财产归属是一种选择问题，受时间和语言等因素的影响。该研究对时间既有促进归属感，又有有限的管理资源的时间产生了细微的了解。这些观点不仅对决策者和教育者如何促进归属感有影响，而且对尊重那些选择留在学龄前社区之外的父母的重要性也很重要。该研究对时间既有促进归属感，又有有限的管理资源的时间产生了细微的了解。这些观点不仅对决策者和教育者如何促进归属感有影响，而且对尊重那些选择留在学龄前社区之外的父母的重要性也很重要。该研究对时间既有促进归属感，又有有限的管理资源的时间产生了细微的了解。这些观点不仅对决策者和教育者如何促进归属感有影响，而且对尊重那些选择留在学龄前社区之外的父母的重要性也很重要。