The relationship between early childhood education [ECE] and primary education [PE] in Brazil is examined through an analysis of 38 articles and 73 dissertations. Brazilian educational research highlights a problematic relationship between ECE and PE, which could be characterised as a standoff relationship, where both levels fail to recognise each other, or as a school readiness model, which expects children to be adequately prepared for entry into primary school, particularly in terms of their coordination skills and behaviour. This challenging relationship is explicit in three key tensions: ‘play versus literacy’; ‘free movement versus stillness’; and ‘contradictory feelings: happiness versus fear’. The chapter provides some principles to build continuity across children’s schooling and concludes by emphasising that ECE and PE should both consider care as a foundation not only for teachers’ practices, but also for administrative measures and educational policies in general.