This paper reviews four studies about the nature of professional thinking among teachers, and its relationship to parents' thinking about children and education. The main question addressed in the literature was when and why individual diversity of views appears more strongly in some individuals, but uniformity appears more strongly in others. The method of the studies reviewed in this paper were individual interviews, transcribed and analyzed for themes and content. Subjects were combinations of parents, experienced teachers, and preservice teachers. Across all studies there were a total of 14 students, 11 early childhood teachers, and 7 parents. Interviews in every case focused on aspects of psychology and child development. Individual participants were selected deliberately for their experiences as university students, early education teachers, and parents. One common theme was the ontology of the child. Another theme was the epistemology of participants. The outcomes of these studies suggest the need to understand better the factors that create either diversity or uniformity of beliefs. For educating parents and teachers, attending to different philosophical frameworks will have to be part of the agendas for educators of parents and of early childhood teachers. (Contains 19 references.) (WP)