The importance of home-school relationships between parents and practitioners in early childhood settings is widely accepted. This article discusses the effects of the level of involvement and the nature of practitioner-parent relationships in early years settings in England on the basis of a two part study that examined parents' experience of home visits conducted before the children begin nursery. The first part of the study, a questionnaire survey of 52 teachers/practitioners from different nurseries in the south-east of England, established that 81 percent of these nurseries conduct a home visit before children began nursery. The second part of the study, based on one-to-one semi-structured interviews with eight early years practitioners and five parents, highlighted the tensions that seem to exist between them with regard to these visits. The main themes identified are: power, training and time. As a result of these findings, this article proposes that the nature of practitioner-parent relationships is determined by: 1) the training received by teachers and practitioners to work with parents; and 2) teachers' and practitioners' reflection on their practice.