This research funded by the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme from Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (Project Number: 2017.A3.011.17C) investigated the mediating roles of parental investment and parental distress in the link between poverty and children’s cognitive development (including attention and executive functioning, language (Cantonese and English), memory and learning, and visuospatial processing). The team conducted assessments and surveys with 167 preschool children and their parents in the 2019/2020 academic year. This brief shares findings from this research with an aim to inform policies in relation to the advocacy of maximum working hours, flexible work-life balance arrangements, quality parenting, accessibility of childcare service as well as promoting maternal employment