In a way this paper is the product of a coincident; a sort of serendipity study in the sense that an initial wonder related to my field notes led me to pursue the times - and the things involved - when the little child was responded to by the nursery teacher. Inspired by the concept of emotional atunement by Daniel Stern, I discuss and elaborate on the response between the child and the nursery teacher relating this interplay to the artefacts, rituals and meanings embedded in the institutional arrangement of day-care. To capture this I propose a concept of institutional atunement.