Embodiments of the disclosure provide a method and an apparatus for selecting a preferred parent node in a wireless sensor network, and the method includes: according to all received DIO messages, separately acquiring, by a first node, node identification information carried in each of the DIO messages and generates a parent node set; selecting, by the first node, a fixed node with a highest performance parameter level as a preferred parent node when it is determined that the parent node set includes at least two fixed nodes; and selecting, by the first node, a mobile node with a highest performance parameter level as the preferred parent node when it is determined that the parent node set does not include a fixed node, and includes at least two mobile nodes.