“Don’t Make a Happy Baby Happier” — Mom Details Why Interrupting Kids’ Play Is a Bad Time

Delaney Rae (@hercuriosities) is a mother who says her baby excels at independent play and being able to keep herself entertained for extended periods of time.

The TikToker attributes this skill to a philosophy she's adopted when it comes to child rearing: not trying to make a happy baby happier. She spoke about her approach in a viral clip she's posted to the application that's accrued over 225,000 views.

"One of the best pieces of parenting advice that I've ever received was don't try and make a happy baby happier," she said.

While this may seem like some pretty brutal advice, Delaney explained the theory further.

She says it's all about interruption and messing with the flow of whatever a child is currently engaging in.

"And if you really sit and think about that we interrupt our kids playing all the time," she continued.

At this point in the video, a baby can be heard cooing off-camera in the TikToker's video.

"She's been going in and out of Ram's dog den for like 20 minutes. Talking to herself, and you know, I could go over and try and like shut the door and play peekaboo."

However, the mom questioned why parents would want to do this. Her kid is having a great time.

In fact, she seems to intimate that parents will often superimpose what their idea of fun is with their kids. However, if children can be allowed to practice entertaining themselves without external stimuli, this is an important skill for them to possess.

Delaney says that she's noticed her baby daughter is so great at playing independently because whenever the kid is having a grand old time by herself, the mom doesn't interject herself into the child's situation.

"Because I think that would be fun for her. But I need to let her be. She is learning independent play and I think that's one of the reasons why she's such a good independent player," Delaney said in her clip.

The mom continued, "It's kind of that Montessori style parenting. Where if they're good, once they're locked in you pretend that they don't exist. She's chilling, I'm out here making banana bread."

She capped off her video by repeating the thesis that started her TikTok: "Don't try to make a happy baby happier. Just let them play."

There are several child-rearing analysts who've written about the benefits of uninterrupted independent play for kids.

According to the blog Play, Learn, Thrive, which was founded by Alanna Gallo, a former teacher with a master's in Education who's also a mom of four, this facet of early development is absolutely crucial for children to engage in.

Some of the benefits, Gallo states directly pertain to emotional progress. "Because play is the work of childhood, uninterrupted childhood play is vital. Children need play to work through feelings, ideas, and even things they are learning."

The educator also stated that when a kid's play isn't interrupted, it engages them in the practice of staying rooted in a task for extended periods of time. Getting lost in an objective could help a kid's attention span, which has been on an average steady decline throughout the past several decades.

"During uninterrupted play, children are learning how to focus on an idea or task for long periods of time," she writes.

According Gallo's piece, uninterrupted play also allows children the ability to problem solve for themselves by means of "trial and error."

This helps to foster a sense of self-reliance in children. Furthermore, if they're playing with other kids their age as well, it teaches them relationship dynamics and how to address "disagreements" that may arise throughout a play session.

Any parent will tell you that when kids are playing together, things can get pretty heated, especially when it pertains to the "right" way to play a game.

If you're looking for more information on independent play and ways you can encourage your own kid to engage in it, you may want to look at this post by Heart & Soul Speech which echoes many of Gallo's points.

Several parents who responded to Delaney's post stated that they appreciated her message. One mom said that she felt like having a "hands-off" approach sometimes is a bad thing: "Needed to hear this. I have this guilt that I should be engaging more."

Someone else said that they too have adopted an identical approach with their kid and it's done wonders for their independent play skills: "I've adopted this 'If she's not crying give her space' mentality, and it's really helped during her independent play."