Parents and educators strive to help their children to develop optimally. Given the diversity of values and practices among dynamic modern populations it is important to understand all the dimensions that affect the development of children in their communities. A cultural-historical lens facilitates such a holistic understanding. Taking this lens, this article presents a model, developed with reference to cultural-historical theory and shows its application through reference to a study of three Hong Kong immigrant families in Australia. The model provides a traceable representation of the dynamic interactive processes and influences in a child's development. It offers a template for the holistic analysis of the processes in a particular child's development and guidelines for effective family pedagogy.