5 Reasons you should (Re)connect With Your Inner Child (and How the Wooden Fellows Can Help You Do so)

Have you noticed that the wooden Fellows and I often encourage our audience to connect, or reconnect, with their inner child? But recently, we were asked a quite a wise question:  “What does inner child really mean?” The question made us pause and inspired us to dedicate a whole blog post to it, and the importance of (re)connecting with our inner child.

Indeed, the Petit Refuge is not just for young children enjoying wooden puppets and storytelling; it is also for adults, offering them an opportunity to be a kid for a moment. Young children, especially those under 5, have some kind of superpowers that we often lose as we age. Being creative and imaginative, being brave, emotionally open, and having a natural ability to slow down are qualities that we all benefit from. 

At the Petit Refuge, we believe that we all have an “inner child”, a remembrance of the young child we were once, with some superpowers waiting to be awakened. Reconnecting with your inner child is not about being childish; it is about rediscovering the power of creativity, imagination, and slowing down, which make our lives more joyful and meaningful.

Today, we are reviewing five reasons to (re)connect with your inner child, and how the wooden Fellows can guide you in such a meaningful journey.

Reason 1 – (Re)connect with your inner child and rediscover the joy of being creative

Have you noticed how many young children create freely, without worrying about perfection? In the right environment, of course, they draw, they paint, they create without fear. Our inner child reminds us that creativity does not have to be polished or perfect; it just needs to be about being alive and touching other people’s lives. As we enter a new era of artificial intelligence, accepting those imperfections will actually make us even more human.

At the Petit Refuge, we try to model that for all to see: being creative with the wooden Fellows’ hand-carved details and their tiny handmade clothes, and learning to leave and accept some imperfections. It is indeed a skill to practice, but how joyful to look back at something we created.

When is the last time you let yourself make something imperfectly and joyfully?

Reason 2 – (Re)connect with your inner child and unleash your imagination

Another superpower of young children: have you witnessed how they can turn everyday moments into stories? Imagination is the key to never being bored, but in an era of endless phone scrolling, imagination is an ability we must nurture at all costs.  Let the wooden Fellows help you reopen the door to imagination, encouraging you to dream, invent, and see our world differently. They love inviting everyone into a whimsical world of storytelling, each with their own personality built on dreams, wisdom, sadness, and a love of nature. For instance, did you know that Petite Clothilde’s favorite food is tomato ice cream?

Spend a few minutes imagining a story about your young self discovering a whimsical land: what would you see, who would you meet?

Reason 3 – (Re)connect with your inner child and slow down to notice more moments in life

Young children, at least when we let them, move at a pace we often forget: they slow down to better observe, to be more present. One friend told me the story of her toddler at the zoo, fascinated not by the huge elephants nearby, but by a tiny pea dropped on the ground. The wooden Fellows often mirror that rhythm, helping us relearn the power of slowing down and the beauty of noticing tiny details around us. Our unhurried YouTube videos are designed to be calm and grounding, offering an invitation to pause, breathe, and fall into a slower moment.

When was the last time you took a quiet walk and noticed a tiny thing for the first time? If it has been too long, let the wooden Fellows be your guide in slowing down.

Reason 4 –  (Re)connect with your inner child and become fearless

Have you noticed how young children sometimes try new things without fear of making mistakes? In a nurturing environment, they proudly show us a new drawing or a new dance move. At the Petit Refuge, every new carving, outfit, or story is an experiment, a gentle act of bravery meant to remind us that we are allowed to try, learn, and grow.

Try something new today, however small, without worrying about the outcome. Let it be an experiment similar to what we do at the Petit Refuge.

Reason 5 – (Re)connect with your inner child and embrace your own emotions

Finally, young children show us how to feel emotions fully, such as joy, frustration, curiosity, sadness, and move through them as they go. Reconnecting with our inner child means allowing ourselves to feel, too. The wooden Fellows are all in when it comes to emotions: Maurice and his sadness, joyful Mme Rigolotte, Petite Clothilde and her endless imagination, and fearless Pierre Qui Roule. The wooden Fellows’ personalities remind us that all feelings have a place, and embracing them is part of who we are.

Which wooden Fellows do you connect to the most?

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By reconnecting with our inner child in these ways, we can rediscover imagination and go beyond in our everyday lives. The wooden Fellows are here to guide us along the way, reminding us that feeling deeply is not just for children.

Of course, (re)connecting with your inner child can also mean facing some of the harder parts of childhood that some of us had to go through. From time to time, I have shared how the wooden Fellows have helped me cope with the loss of my dad at a very young age. They showed me how to embrace every part of myself: being a dreamer, acquiring wisdom through the years, my love of being outside, and also the saddest part of me. I am not a therapist, though, and I can only encourage you to seek help if you need to deal with childhood trauma.

The beautiful thing about reconnecting with our inner child is that it can bring small, joyful moments into our day, reminding us how alive we truly are. Let yourself be guided by the wooden Fellows, and enjoy being a young child again, even for just a moment.

What other beneficial reasons to (re)connect with your inner child would you add to our list? Send us a message or add a comment! The wooden Fellows ALWAYS love to hear from you!