Definitions and labels can be both helpful and tricky. Knowing what something means and labeling it, can give you a great starting place for exploring or understanding something. However, different people interpret things differently. What a label means to me, can be completely different compared to what it means to you. It gets even trickier when two labels can be so similarly intertwined.

I know that age play is different from being a little. I know that a lot of people agree with me, but I also know that there are some people who either disagree, or don't realize that there is a difference.

Here is what I think each term means, and what makes the difference between the two:

Age Play
Age play is a role play scenario where one or more partner acts an age that is not their own. I think one of the most common would be toddler/children but there are also age players who play the role of a teenager or even an elder.

Being a Little
Being a little is not something that is acted out; it is a part of who you are. Somebody who is little has a "small" side of the personality. They like childish things and sometimes go into a place commonly referred to as little space where they regress.

The differences
*Being a little is more about expressing childlike feelings, whereas age playing is about acting a certain age.
*Age players are choosing an age to play and therefore they can tell you exactly how old they are choosing to be, whereas a little may not be able to tell you how old they are because their little space could span a whole range of ages.
*Age players have an easier time transitioning from their role back into their normal head space, they can switch easily back and forth. Littles can sometimes struggle with this transition because being little is always a part of who they are. They can't just turn it off and on like a switch.

Combining the two
A lot of the time, littles will engage in age play in order to help induce little space, or to help foster a safe little environment. Littles male great age players. The two can be combined, and there isn't always a clear line between the two.

Those are my definitions. Do the two terms mean something different to you? I would love to hear how you distinguish between the two. Are you a little? Do you like to age play? or do you combine the two?