In many Euro-Western educational models, the focus is often on individual children’s development, their milestones, their achievements, their progress. Success is measured in terms of what each child can do independently. But through the HuUbuntu: I Am Because We Are philosophy, we are asking us to shift our perspective: What if a child’s development is fundamentally relational? What if children don’t just grow up, but grow into themselves through connections with family,community, and...

In thinking about the title of this article, I dug into the deeper recesses of my cultural upbringing and the lessons I had learned from Elders when I was growing up in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa. Our small house in the capital city was often teeming with relatives who would come from the rural village looking for work and opportunities. Even as I recount in my memoir, Nhaka Yenyu: Your Inheritance, our own life in the city was devoid of luxury; we would survive on a single meal a day, work...

Community, context, and culture are vital aspects of early childhood education. By embracing and valuing diversity, involving families...