The first thing that should be made clear is that age-play has nothing at all to do with paedophilia. True age-play is about choice, about role-play and about adults being consensual whereas paedophilia the victim has no choice, it is not role-play it is sexual abuse of children or baby’s. Age-play has nothing to do with anyone under the age of consent. Age players and paedophiles are far removed from each other in that with age-play the person playing the role of the youngster is a consenting adult who hands over power to the authoritarian, both enjoying the scene. Paedophiles just take under age children by force to control, sexually abuse and even rape for their own gratification. The vast majority of players live a decent and respectable life, this is not to say everyone involved with age-play is not a paedophile, you will always find an exception to every rule.

What is age-play? There are several forms of age-play one form is where consenting adults take on the role of a child while others take the role of the child’s guardian, parent etc. Done like this it is a form of dominance and submission. This can be done either as a scene or a lifestyle with someone living as a child and the partner living as the adult/guardian as much as possible. As with all d/s play trust and honest communication are paramount. Age play can be sexual or non-sexual. But, not all age-play is about d/s. it may be about emotional regressive play where adults want to relive childhood experiences. Regressive age-play may be linked to inner child therapy. Many people think their inner child is a very real part of them.

It may be an adult spending time engaged in childlike pursuits either alone or with peers; these peers are often adult children playing an older child; others may feel they are of a psychological age younger than their physical age

Adult children can also use age-play to help them come to terms with times they were hurt, upset or abused during their real childhood. The adult playing the role of a parent aunt or uncle who lovingly and tenderly guides the child through the healing process; this is called reparenting or regressive age-play and may be linked to inner child therapy.

Roles. There are two basic roles; the adult who plays the adult in a scene and the one who plays the child. There are a whole host of reasons why people choose to play these roles including just feeling good in the costumes and playing with any props used, corporal punishment or lactophilia (breast milk fetish) and diaper/nappy fetish.

The adult role. The adult role is most often a person of authority, a parent, a teacher, a priest or Doctor to name but a few and who can be of any adult age. The key here is the presence of control over the child. Corporal punishment is often used by the adult to discipline the wayward child, with spanking, or the use of a percussion implement such as a belt or paddle. Though other punishments such as standing in the corner, or denial of privileges are sometimes used too.

The child role. The ages of the adult child ranges from baby’s right through to mid teenage. Some people use more than one age group when playing, others use the same age each time.

Adult baby’s (AB) People involved in the adult baby or AB fetish, (sometimes called infantilism) actively put aside their maturity to dress up and behave as near to baby’s as they can. There are many reasons people do this, which include but are not exclusive to diaper/nappy and breast milk fetishes. Becoming a baby again can be immensely freeing for the adult. They can forget their responsibilities no longer having to think for themselves, which can be a huge relief, even if it's just for an hour or so.

Juveniles. This age group starts where toddlers finish and goes right through to pre-teens or pre-adolescence. Roles for this group can consist of young stable hands, orphans, scullery maids and young school children, but is only limited by people’s imaginations. The adult would play the part of parent, employer, teacher or guardian to name but a few.

Teenagers. This group covers from the beginning of adolescence through to mid-late teens. Roles may consist of maids, older school children and teen mums along with many others. The adult could play the part of parent, employer, teacher, doctor and so on.