Objectives The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of parents with young children's product purchasing attitudes on the need for ESG (environmental, social, and governance) education and promotion. Additionally, the study aims to explore the mediating effect of ESG importance in this relationship Methods The study participants consisted of 254 parents with young children residing in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, and Gyeongsang. The trends and normality of the research variables, as well as their reliability coefficients, were examined using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 23.0. The relationships among the research variables were analyzed using Pearson's correlation analysis. Additionally, structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the structural relationships. Furthermore, the mediating effect was investigated using the bootstrapping method. Results The research findings are as follows. First, the mean of the research variables was above 4.0, indicating high levels. Additionally, the data met the assumption of normality. Second, the findings indicate a positive correlation between the need for ESG education and promotion and product purchasing attitudes, as well as the importance of ESG and its subfactors, which include environmental importance, social importance and governance importance. Third, the results revealed that attitudes towards product purchasing had a statistically significant impact on the importance of ESG and the need for ESG education. However, attitudes towards product purchasing did not have a statistically significant impact on the necessity of promoting ESG. Additionally, the importance of ESG was found to influence both the need for ESG education and the need for ESG promotion. Fourth, in the process where attitudes towards product purchasing influence the need for ESG education, the importance of ESG partially mediates the relationship. However, in the case of the need for promoting ESG(environmental, social, governance) practices, the importance of ESG fully mediates the relationship. Conclusions The research findings suggest the importance of promoting early awareness of the concept of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) through play.Additionally, the study aims to propose practical approaches to promoteESGpractices, distinguishing between initiatives focused on thehomeenvironment and collaboration in early childhood education.