To discover the underlying understandings that organize how low-income Latino and African American parents of infants and toddlers with severe persistent asthma manage symptoms in their children, 11 families with children 12-48 months old and recently hospitalized with asthma were interviewed over 3-6 months. Interpretive phenomenology was used to analyze parents' narratives about everyday asthma management practices. Four different family management styles were discovered: determined, discontinuous, flexible, and disrupted. Each arose from parents' particular understandings of asthma and asthma management. Attention to illness meaning and individually developed management plans would improve the family management of asthma in these high-risk families.