This paper is based on the Winnicott Lecture given to paediatricians at their Annual Conference in 1999. The theme and arguments put forward are familiar to those engaged in liaison work. The close emotional links and mutual influences between child and parents are stressed, with particular emphasis on the child who develops physical symptoms and is therefore brought to the attention of physicians. Because many of these children fail to improve with the prescriptions of general practitioners and paediatricians, the need to investigate each parent's emotional investment in the situation is underlined. Throughout the paper, Winnicott's theories and his special interest in the child's perspective are repeatedly mentioned.