A child’s surgery is a stressful event for the parents.  Parents are disturbed and anxious when their child is hospitalized and waiting for a surgery. The present study is aimed to determine the effectiveness of a preoperative educational programme on mother’s anxiety and to identify the level of satisfaction of mothers regarding the educational programme. A quasi – experimental research with pre test post test control group design was adopted to conduct the study.  Purposive sampling technique was used to select the subjects.  Sample size was 60, of which 30 mothers were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 30 mothers to the control group.   Mothers of children between the ages of 7 and 15 waiting for elective abdominal surgeries and who were able to read the local language (Malayalam) were selected.  The experimental group received preoperative educational programme, whereas the control group received routine care. Parental anxiety was measured using state anxiety Form Y1 inventory on admission, and two hours after the intervention. The mean anxiety score of mothers were less in the experimental group compared to the control group after the intervention. The calculated t value was 3.38 which were statistically significant at p < .001. Majority (86.67%) of the mothers in the experimental group were fully satisfied regarding the educational programme. The preoperative education programme was found to be effective in reducing mother’s anxiety and can be effectively used in pediatric surgical units to support the parents.