diff --git a/options-manager.js b/options-manager.js
index 54563286..2c70ad1d 100644
--- a/options-manager.js
+++ b/options-manager.js
@@ -74,8 +74,8 @@ function normalizeOpts(opts) {
 
 function mergeWithPkgConf(opts) {
 	opts = Object.assign({cwd: process.cwd()}, opts);
-
-	return Object.assign({}, pkgConf.sync('xo', opts.cwd), opts);
+	const pkgConfOpts = {cwd: opts.cwd, skipOnFalse: true};
+	return Object.assign({}, pkgConf.sync('xo', pkgConfOpts), opts);
 }
 
 // define the shape of deep properties for deepAssign
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a0f510bf..ceea5f6b 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@
     "meow": "^3.4.2",
     "multimatch": "^2.1.0",
     "path-exists": "^3.0.0",
-    "pkg-conf": "^1.0.1",
+    "pkg-conf": "^2.0.0",
     "resolve-cwd": "^1.0.0",
     "resolve-from": "^2.0.0",
     "update-notifier": "^1.0.0",
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 8ccd6635..874d7b31 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -252,6 +252,10 @@ XO makes it easy to override configs for specific files. The `overrides` propert
 }
 ```
 
+## Using a parent's config
+If you have a directory structured with nested `package.json` files
+and you want one of the child manifests to be skipped you can do so
+by setting `"xo": false`.
 
 ## FAQ
 
diff --git a/test/fixtures/nested/child-empty/package.json b/test/fixtures/nested/child-empty/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..91bf1fcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/nested/child-empty/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  "xo": {}
+}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/nested/child-ignore/package.json b/test/fixtures/nested/child-ignore/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f2639cdb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/nested/child-ignore/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  "xo": false
+}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/nested/child/package.json b/test/fixtures/nested/child/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..403fa360
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/nested/child/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+  "xo": {
+    "esnext": false
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/nested/file.js b/test/fixtures/nested/file.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ad7d1b96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/nested/file.js
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+var obj = { a: 1 };
+console.log(obj.a);
diff --git a/test/fixtures/nested/package.json b/test/fixtures/nested/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..730c497c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/nested/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+  "xo": {
+    "esnext": true
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/options-manager.js b/test/options-manager.js
index 57ce02ce..3fff1a72 100644
--- a/test/options-manager.js
+++ b/test/options-manager.js
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
+import path from 'path';
 import test from 'ava';
 import proxyquire from 'proxyquire';
+import parentConfig from './fixtures/nested/package.json';
+import childConfig from './fixtures/nested/child/package.json';
 
 const manager = proxyquire('../options-manager', {
 	'resolve-from': (cwd, path) => `cwd/${path}`
@@ -138,3 +141,30 @@ test('groupConfigs', t => {
 		return obj;
 	}));
 });
+
+test('mergeWithPkgConf: use child if closest', t => {
+	const cwd = path.resolve('fixtures', 'nested', 'child');
+	const result = manager.mergeWithPkgConf({cwd});
+	const expected = Object.assign({}, childConfig.xo, {cwd});
+	t.deepEqual(result, expected);
+});
+
+test('mergeWithPkgConf: use parent if closest', t => {
+	const cwd = path.resolve('fixtures', 'nested');
+	const result = manager.mergeWithPkgConf({cwd});
+	const expected = Object.assign({}, parentConfig.xo, {cwd});
+	t.deepEqual(result, expected);
+});
+
+test('mergeWithPkgConf: use parent if child is ignored', t => {
+	const cwd = path.resolve('fixtures', 'nested', 'child-ignore');
+	const result = manager.mergeWithPkgConf({cwd});
+	const expected = Object.assign({}, parentConfig.xo, {cwd});
+	t.deepEqual(result, expected);
+});
+
+test('mergeWithPkgConf: use child if child is empty', t => {
+	const cwd = path.resolve('fixtures', 'nested', 'child-empty');
+	const result = manager.mergeWithPkgConf({cwd});
+	t.deepEqual(result, {cwd});
+});