A child’s healthcare encounter usually entails the meeting of at least three people: a child, a parent and a health professional. The talk in these triads, when successful, has been likened to ‘a pas de trois’, a delicate interplay between the participants. ¹ However, in most of these meetings there may well be more than three sets of dynamics in orchestration, from outside the room as well as from within: those of absent family, school teachers, peers and even the state. ² Health professionals conducting their part in the interaction have to bear in mind rules of confidentiality, assessment of competency, guidance on the safeguarding of the young patient, while building rapport and trust, to arrive at a functional harmony.