Perceptions of emergent literacy by three family child care providers are described. These perceptions were gathered through ethnographic data collection techniques, including participant-observation, field notes, interviews, and document analysis. The providers described their understandings of emergent literacy through perceptions about themselves, perceptions of their own child-rearing practices, perceptions of how young children learn to acquire literacy, and perceptions of the literacy-play connection. The findings focus on the providers' notion of being on a continuum between a mother, provider, and teacher. Possible effects that these self-understandings may have on the literacy development of children who attend family child care, and the implications of these perceptions for children who attend family child care as a preschool experience, are discussed.