The article explores the psychoanalytic foundations of Watch Me Play! (WMP), an applied approach first developed to promote understanding of the needs of babies and young children in care, now more widely used to support parent-child relationships and child development. Watch Me Play! is derived from psychoanalytic infant observation and underpinned by key concepts in child development research such as mind-mindedness, joint attention and contingent responsiveness. The relevance of the central psychoanalytic concepts of attention and time in the thinking of Freud, Bion and Birksted-Breen is illustrated in clinical examples from work with the group for whom the approach was first developed: infants and young children who have experienced abuse, neglect and disrupted attachments, together with their foster carers or adoptive parents.

Trained practitioners aim to support families by providing opportunities for children to play freely while receiving the undivided attention of their parent or carer. Practitioners then reflect with parents or carers on their experience of watching their child play. This way of interacting with a child can be challenging when parents or children have experienced trauma or for parents whose confidence in interacting with their child has been affected by the use of digital devices and social media.