This paper deals with the role of projective identification in the transmission of psychopathology from generation to generation, and its implications for the treatment of latency children. A case-history of an 8-year-old boy with emotional and cognitive problems is presented. He participated in weekly psychoanalytically-oriented psychotherapy sessions parallel to monthly sessions with his mother. Working separately with mother and son has helped us to understand better the intense projections of each into the other. Interpretation led to symptom-improvement in the boy and to a positive change in their relationship. This kind of intervention differs from the classical individual or family-therapy approaches, and may have implications for the concept of parental guidance in child psychotherapy. This type of work requires a theoretical oscillation between an intrapsychic understanding in the individual setting, and an interpersonal context in work with parents.