Holding Onto Childhood: A Conversation on Play, Parenthood & Possibility
One of the things I love most about Conscious Craft is the chance it gives me to meet inspiring people and hear their stories. There's something powerful and comforting about sharing journeys into parenthood—we can all learn so much from each other.
This month, I'm delighted to share my conversation with Katie, a Sussex-based photographer and mother of two, who beautifully documents the quiet magic of family life and the natural world around her. Katie's approach to motherhood, education, and play is gentle, thoughtful, and deeply authentic—qualities that resonate strongly with Conscious Craft’s ethos. As both a customer and a member of our local community, her reflections offer a meaningful glimpse into the transformative role play has within a family.
I hope you enjoy reading Katie’s insights as much as I enjoyed speaking with her.
Reflecting on your journey into motherhood, can you share an insight or belief about parenting that you had before becoming a mother that has significantly changed now, and why?
I was raised in a small town in the North East of England, in a big family with many children (my grandma has eighteen great grandchildren) which almost moves as one entity. In the stories I had been told there was a belief that there was one set way of parenting, that the path had already been destined. In my mid 20’s I birthed my first child, my beautiful son, and a few years before I had moved across country to London where my world and heart opened. It was here I learnt that there were actually many different ways of doing well, everything! I hung onto those very early days and months incredibly tightly as I journeyed into motherhood, my heart told me to stay close, connected. And now eight years later I see my path in comparison to my lineage, is very different.
In what ways do you feel play has shaped your child’s emotional, social, or intellectual growth, and how has observing this influenced your parenting approach?
Our children are raised with the influence of Rudolph Steiner’s teachings which naturally invites connection and where we can, hold onto the 0-7 cycle a little tighter, particularly in starting their academic learning a little later. This slower pace and less pressure to school has made an allowance in our family, for our children to really tune into play. Play has played a vital role for both our children but it has been particularly beneficial for our son who when given the space, flourishes! Within home education, play has been the foundation for most of our academic learning, and it has helped hugely in our connection with each other. The realms play can take one’s imagination to is magical - my husband and I are often caught smiling to one another as woven into the corners of our home are miniature worlds created by our daughter. Bigger and more complex structures are being built by Arthur now at 8 years old, his heart still in play, as if it’s helping him to hold onto his childhood somehow. For me as their mother too, there’s a holding on!
Can you share an example of a meaningful play experience with your child that stands out to you, and explain why you think it resonated so deeply for you both?
Our daughter Fern can be lost (or found?) for hours on end in small world play, each corner of our living room a different magical realm within her world. I smile as I write this even as I can almost feel my younger self in this type of play as I have fond memories of a little girl being given free rein of the living room in her childhood home, to create a whole world for her Barbie dolls. Her parents stepping over the kitchen area to get to their own, having to tread gently as to not disturb the sleeping children. I am grateful even now, that my mother opened space for that, and I hope in time that my daughter remembers there was always space for play.
When selecting toys or educational material for your child, what considerations such as sustainability, open ended play, educational value or personal values - most strongly guide your choices and why?
We believe in making sustainable choices for our family and over the years this has encouraged us to build a special, and relatively small collection of toys and games. We love brands such as Ostheimer and Grapat which are so beautifully made and versatile they can become anything! Characters in small world play - wherever that may be, counters to help us with maths sums or storytellers. Our footprints need to be reduced and these small acts feel important. Plus having a collection of beautiful things helps clear the mental load of plastic chaos!
How do you balance structured educational activities with unstructured, free at home, and have you noticed specific benefits or challenges arising from this balance?
I remember reading something once, when we first set out on a path of home education about holding in and out breaths in the days, I still incorporate it into our rhythm which helps find the balance. For example, I’ve found that our children hold much of their concentration in the morning and so our first in-breath may be a lesson block early on, and our first out-breath follows by a walk in nature, or a co operative game. Then we return in to continue with project based learning or settle into art and craft before having a larger out-breath, again mostly leaning into nature. There have been some days where I have lost my children completely in play - and I hold belief there is an impactful education in there in itself.
What do you find most challenging about navigating the expectations around motherhood and educational choices today? And how have you developed strategies or community support to address these challenges?
My roots come with some conditioning and I hold a high level of expectation over myself to do things a little differently, that blending with living in the south of England where educational choices are so varied and rich in possibilities, it can be overwhelming and hard to hold onto the belief in what we are doing is the right thing. There is a lot of pressure put on the modern mother in these days and we have so much to carry and hold always. To keep me grounded is community, I surrounded myself with other women who hold similarities in their connection with their children, and we build together. I think it’s important to feel that we aren’t doing this on our own! I encourage people to find their local women’s fires or forest school settings where play and community is build for both parent and child.
If you could offer advice to yourself when you first became a mother, specifically regarding the role of play and toys in the early development, what would you say, based on your experience now?
I’d say to her, that it’s more than ok to slow down, that there’s no real rush. To carve out whole days for no plans and to invite the children to shape what that looks like, for they will be the most beautiful days! To start building a collection of toys that have been made with care, and that will last for years to come, that the investment may seem big to her now but she’ll be glad for it.
How do you perceive your child’s education evolving over the next few years? And what role would you ideally like play and creativity to have within your vision?
As we sit in the 7-14 cycle it feels as if we have travelled somewhat and are about to enter a new phase within education and we are all excited! Academically, lessons will soon evolve into something much bigger and creativity will continue in partnership with it. Arthur dreams of being an artist and a traveling storyteller, and for our daughter, well play is simply a way of life and long may it all continue.
Photos by Flora Westbrook (@flora_westbrook)
