Whilst several studies have examined parent-child interactions or the parent-child relationship in relation to child weight, these studies have focused on the parent and the child individually during such interactions. Similarly, family-based treatments for pediatric overweight have involved parents as agents of child weight- related behaviour change, but have yet to focus on the parent-child relationship from a dyadic approach. Over the last 5 years, I have developed a program of research, with my co-investigators and students, focused on how parenting and mother-child interactions impact on preschool children’s eating habits and subsequent patterns of weight gain. This research is the first to adopt a dyadic perspective, taking into account the relationship between mother and child and how this may moderate or mediate the effect of parenting practices on preschool child weight gain; to my knowledge, this is the first prospective study to obtain rich observational data around home routines pertaining to preschoolers’ eating. In this presentation, I will summarise the findings of my survey-based and observational research findings, including a detailed overview of the home observation methodology and the coding system used. The role of maternal influences in the development of childhood obesity is complex. Information about the ways in which the parent and child can influence each other, as observed in parent-child interactions around food, is likely to provide greater insights into the aetiology of childhood obesity.