I was watching Bentley the other day, knee-deep in sand, building some kind of half-collapsed fort that made zero sense but was everything to him in that moment.
No rules. No screens. Just pure imagination.
And I caught myself thinking…
When did kids stop playing like that?
When I was little, we’d disappear for hours.
We’d build cubbies out of old towels, climb trees we probably shouldn’t have, and come home sunburnt, sandy, and starving.
We didn’t have a plan. We just played.
Now it feels like childhood has turned into a to-do list.
Clubs, lessons, activities, homework.
Even play has structure.
And somehow, in all the busy, we’ve lost the space for the magic.
I don’t blame the kids. The world’s changed.
There’s more pressure, more noise, more “shoulds.”
But when I see how calm and happy my boys are after a beach day — when their hands are dirty and their minds are free — it reminds me that this is what they actually need.
They don’t need more stuff.
They need space.
Time.
Freedom to be messy and curious and wild.
That’s where they learn confidence.
That’s where kindness grows.
That’s where the best memories are made — right in the middle of the chaos.
Some days I feel guilty that we don’t do enough “activities.”
Then I remember that childhood isn’t meant to be a performance.
It’s meant to be an adventure.
And maybe our job as parents isn’t to schedule their happiness, but to give them the freedom to find it.
So if you need the reminder too —
let them get muddy.
Let them stay up late watching the sunset.
Let them be loud, silly, barefoot little humans.
Because the world will teach them to hurry soon enough.
🩵 From one mum who’s trying to slow it down:
Let’s give our kids back the kind of childhood we still remember.
The one that smells like sunscreen, saltwater, and freedom.
Ash x
Founder, Sand + Salt Kids
Clothes made for chaos, calm, and everything in between.