The old African proverb "it takes a whole village to raise a child" (Mohamed, 1996, p. 57) resonates significantly throughout Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory ( Bronfenbrenner and Evans 2000); a theory that focuses on gaining information about human development through identifying the circumstances and considering the environmental influences in which a child is raised and not just the genetic components. This essay will attempt to encompass my understanding of Bronfenbrenner's theory by incorporating the effect of the theory in child development and the significance of nested systems with the purpose of illustrating the importance to the development of secondary emotions and the development of emotion expression from childhood to adolescence. Bronfenbrenner's approach was to study children in their natural environments to explore how a child experiences and interprets their world within a complex system of relationships (Berk, 2009, p. 26). His theory concerns the child's environment; taking into account the practices within that environment and how they might influence the child's development and individual connections to show the way in which external forces and the child relate to influence his or her development (Paquette and Ryan, n.d.) . It is important to recognize how the interaction of systems with bidirectional influences (adults influence children's behavior but children's behavior can also influence adult behavior [Berk, 2009]) within and between systems can strengthen or disrupt the healthy child development as each system contains roles, norms, values, beliefs and rules that can effectively shape their development. From this writer's perspective, Bronfenbrenner's theory ...... middle of article ...... ampos, R. G., & Barrett, K. C. (1989). Emerging themes in the study of emotional development and emotion regulation. Developmental Psychology, 25(3), 394-402. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.25.3.394.Mohamed, E. R. (1996). It takes an entire village to raise a child. Peabody Journal of Education, Mentors and Mentoring 71(1), 57. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1492552?uid=3737536&uid=2&uid=4&s id=21100750938471Paquette, D. and Ryan, J . (n.d.). Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory. Retrieved from http://pt3.nl.edu/paquetteryanwebquest.pdfWilson, R.L. (2003). The emotional life of children. Wagga Wagga: Keon.Wilson, R.L. (2012). Child and adolescent psychology. Week 4. [CSU Psy113 Forum]. Retrieved March 23, 2012 from Charles Sturt University website http://forums.csu.edu.au/perl/forums.pl?forum_id=PSY113_201230_B_D_forum