Play can facilitate children’s understanding of the world, help them learn how to control their feelings, practice life skills, learn to socialize with others, as well as develop their cognitive skills (Emsli & Mesle, 2008; Kayılı, 2010; Moore & Russ, 2008; Taggart et al., 2020; Yılmaz & Pala, 2019). On the other hand, parent-child interactions and how parents perceive their children’s play types can make a fundamental difference in children’s early learning and development, and have, therefore, been widely studied in diverse contexts (Khoshbakht, 2012; Lagacé-Séguin & d’Entremont, 2006; Lin & Li, 2019; Manz & Bracaliello, 2016). This qualitative research investigated how five Iranian mothers perceived their children’s play and how this perception was related to their perceived parenting practices. A cultural framework – the Developmental Niche Theory (Super & Harkness, 1986) –  was used to understand these Iranian mothers’ perceptions who were living in Iran. The participants were interviewed about their practices and perceptions of their young children (aged 3 to 5-year-old). The participants  completed the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ; Robinson, 2001), and they were also interviewed about their perceptions of their own parenting styles and practices.
The findings suggested that mothers’ cultural backgrounds and their own childhood play experiences influence their perspectives about their children’s play. The mothers also perceived playtime as an important element in children’s life, and provided their children with opportunities to decide about their play types/toys. Finally, mothers’ perceptions of their parenting and their beliefs about it seemed to impact their perceptions of play.