Let’s play!

At home I watch my kids turn the sofa into a pirate ship, cook and serve imaginary meals at the table just before dinner, dress up and create entire worlds through their play. And I know this won’t last forever.

Lately I’ve read a lot about how children are stopping playing earlier, and that makes me sad. There is only one childhood, and rushing it doesn’t give us anything.

In general, my view of childhood is very non-interventionist: free play, learning by doing, making mistakes, repeating, not seeking perfection… but there is one thing I strongly believe: adults have an important role in slowing down the race to “grow up too soon.”

I hope my kids keep playing kitchen, singing children’s songs on the way to school, dressing up and acting out stories or songs… for a long, long time. But this wish doesn’t depend only on what we do at home. It’s also in other homes, in parks, at parties, during playdates, in the toys they receive…

I’m not only talking about the overstimulation of screens or content they don’t understand. I’m talking about giving them free time, letting them go to the park or the forest, offering toys and music that respect their age, allowing them to experiment and play without rushing to “grow up.” Because there is another way: calmer, closer, more natural, more spontaneous… freer.

At Petit Folks I talk a lot about this: free play, and also music. Children’s songs —like the ones in our boxes, and so many others!— are meant to be sung, laughed with and played today… and they should continue accompanying children tomorrow. Music made for children, that grows with them without pushing them to grow up too soon.

This reflection comes from the fear of a mother who sees how, more and more often, her children come home repeating lines from songs or talking about characters from popular culture meant for teenagers or even adults—things they don’t even understand. And I know it’s easy to go along with it. That going against the current is hard.

But all of that will come in its own time. In childhood, doing it earlier doesn’t mean doing it better.