PACE Consulting LLC

10/11/2025

Play is SO important.

02/11/2025

24/09/2025

❤❤❤

27/05/2025

When we reduce play to a tool for development, we miss its essence. Yes, children learn through play, there’s no denying that. But learning is just the byproduct.

Play isn’t something we use to get somewhere else. It’s not a trick for sneaking in academics or a vehicle for hitting milestones. It’s the space where children become themselves.

Through play, they experiment with identity, power, connection, courage.
They take risks, start over, push boundaries, and test ideas. Sometimes out loud, sometimes in silence. They’re not just rehearsing for life. They’re living it.

So when we focus only on what play teaches, we overlook what play reveals.
The joy. The agency. The inner world of a child shaping itself moment by moment, block by stick by story.

Let’s stop trying to extract value from play and start protecting its freedom. Because who a child becomes through play is far more important than what they produce because of it.

12/02/2025

06/07/2024

They should PLAY!!

13/06/2024

Someone recently told me, “Ugh, I know that the 3yos in my preschool class are supposed to be wiggly and playful and loud and silly. But I know that they’ll have higher expectations in the 4yos class next year. I’m always torn between letting them be themselves, and trying to prepare them for what will be expected of them next school year so it’s hopefully not so much of a shock to them.”

A lot of parents and caregivers feel this "but I have to prepare them for the future" pressure, and I always encourage them to ignore that voice as much as humanly possible for two reasons:

First, subjecting a kid to developmentally inappropriate expectations early does not actually make them better at meeting developmentally inappropriate expectations later on.

And second, because when you're a kid, even a small amount of time may have massive amounts of developmental changes in it.

Parents will be like, "I need to try to teach my kid to write before kindergarten, it's already May, they start in September and they don't know how to write." No, that's four months away! Four months is very nearly 1/10 of their entire lifespan! A massive amount of developmental change can happen in 1/10 of your lifespan!

They are three, four, five! Let them be who they are now. Let them work on what they’re working on now. Don’t preemptively try to crush them into a mold you’re worried the future has for them.

Let the problems of September be the problems of September -- you can't fix the problems of the future now. Give them what they need now.

[Image description: A picture of two speech bubbles, one labeled "Q" and one labeled "A" with question and answer on them that read, "Do I prepare them for the future even if it means they don't get what they need now?" "You can best prepare them for the future by giving them what they need now!" There are little sparkles and doodles on the image to make it cutesy, with a teal, pink, and yellow color palette. My handle, , is also on the image. End description.]

03/06/2024

We have a BIG problem:

The majority (not all, I realize this, but MOST, and that is not acceptable) of public Kindergarten classrooms across the US are not allowed time for CHILD-LED, true play. (Adult-planned and directed Centers/Stations are NOT true, empowering play)

The children's entire days are directed and controlled by adults (in most cases, these adults know this is NOT in the best interest of children, but their hands are tied), aside from 30-45 minutes of overly regulated recess, so, in essence, still controlled by adults.

What we KNOW:

Social/emotional skills are best learned through CHILD-LED play.

Moments of:
•determining what to play,
•organizing that play,
•working through conflict (whether social conflict or emotional conflict),
solving problems
•managing delayed gratification (aka: patience)
•owning ideas, struggles and successes,
•making and owning their choices,
•persevering and demonstrating determination

Each of those NECESSARY LIFE SKILLS are literally EVERYWHERE when adults STOP controlling children, are in-the-moment and quietly observe, stepping in ONLY when invited.

YET, let's review: the majority of Kindergarten classrooms in the US allow for minimal to NO TRUE PLAY.

Let's look at the trickle down affect:

Certainly children are gifted with opportunities to lead their play and gain those valuable LIFE SKILLS in preschool...right?

NOPE! Not in the majority of preschool programs (of course there are exceptions)

The presssures of Kindergarten trickle down to preschool programs that have become overly controlled by adults too!

I know of preschool programs where "Free play" (as people tend to call TRUE PLAY) is limited to MAYBE 20-30 minutes MAX.

The rest of the time is heavily dictated by adults doing the work that rightfully belongs to children:

•what to do
•how to do it
•how long to do it
•who to do it with
•solving conflict (social and emotional)
•eliminating conflict
•solving problems
•doing things for children (like zipping coats) in the name of "hurry up, it's almost table time"

So then, let's look at the BIG PICTURE:

As children get older, their opportunities to lead their own play gets less and less.

Elementary schools are often led by administrators that do not have any education on EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT (this is NEEDED to understand how children (infants through the age of EIGHT) learn differently than older children. (NOTE: not all admin are lacking in ECE, but enough arent, which plays a giant role in tha problem)

Classrooms are filled with even more teacher-direction, less child-led learning and MORE accountability that everything occurring in the classroom meets standards. (again, not by the teacher's choice in most situations)

School districts require more and more "instructional time" (read teacher-controlled time)

When will those life skills be developed!??

At dance class with more adults in control?

At soccer practice with more adults telling children what to do?

At basketball? Football? After school programs? (some I have observed are extremely controlling of children)

LET'S LOOK BACK:

•Children USED to come home and play until dark, with no adults around at all.
•Children USED to organize games with neighborhood kids, debating, solving conflicts and creating their own rules.
•Children USED to be trusted to assess and manage risk, and yes, some gained those skills the hard way. (Teacher Tom says a healthy, curious child should have roughly 10 bloody owies at any given time)

That's not the norm any more. A child's day is now full of adults telling them exactly what to do from the time they wake up until they go to bed.

What can you do to stand up in your community?

Can you: insist on MORE time for children to own their play?

Can you: take photos and antidotes of the value of child-led play?

Can you: practice articulating the value of play?

Can you: educate yourself on body dynamics and how our muscles work together to better value every movement a child makes?

Can you: respectfully offer education to your admin. via articles and posts like this?

Now is the part of a post that I typically tie it up with a pretty bow, however, this post isnt really deserving of a pretty bow, it's a tragic post that speaks a LOT of truth no one seems to want to own.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?
You can start by sharing this post ❤️. Begin the conversation.