Study objective was to identify maternal characteristics discriminating children above 75th versus below 50th percentile on BMI ‐for‐age. Participants were 444 rural first‐grade children and mothers. Maternal measures were Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ), Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD). Child BMI was measured in fall and spring: 42.6% (189) children had fall BMI > 75th percentile and 28.4% (126) had BMI < 50th percentile. ANOVAs revealed the following higher means for the fall BMI > 75th percentile group: all CFQ items about mother weight status, all p < .001; PSDQ permissive parenting, F(1, 312) = 4.793, p = .029; CESD F(1, 310) = 3.208, p = .074. BMI > 75th percentile group had lower mean CFQ responsible for feeding/eating scores, F(1, 312) = 8.577, p = .004. Regressions showed CFQ responsible explained significant variance in child BMI percentile (R2 = .02, p = .005) after maternal current and childhood weight status were controlled (R2 = .09, p < .000001). Children in fall BMI > 75th group with more permissive mothers had a closer link between mother childhood weight status and child BMI spring percentile (r = .303, p = .007) than children with less permissive mothers (r = .188, p = .070). Results extend previous findings on early childhood BMI > 75th percentile status as linked to greater risk for later childhood obesity.