Plaza de los Niños

“Is there any country in the world where children are so well cared for, so well dressed and groomed?”
from In Spain by Ted Walker

Whenever I wander around Sevilla, I see beautiful young children and babies in beautiful clothes. Children all over the world are beautiful, but the caretakers of children in Spain seem to truly cherish and indulge their children by allowing them to be children.

One of the countless children's clothing shops in Sevilla – check out these fall fashions!
The name of this shoe store is Little Blue Horse

As I mentioned in an earlier post, children get to stay up late here. A group of 6 or 7-year-olds children may be kicking around a soccer ball as you are enjoying your 2nd glass of wine, sitting outside a cafe, in one of the countless little plazas here. And, you tend to see children with pacifiers or in strollers and think, “Isn’t she a bit too old for that?” Not in Spain.

Children are also indulged by their relatives. A typical Spaniard stays close to home his entire life, so many families live in the same city or town as their grandparents and aunts and uncles. I often see what looks like 3 generations – a baby, her mother and her grandmother strolling around town together.

Inside a cafe

Speaking of strolling, the baby carriages are even souped up here. Most strollers and baby buggies have a soft, plush cushion tied into the seat, to cradle baby or toddler.

The stereotypical frumpy mom (split ends, no makeup and wearing an Old Navy track suit) does not exist in Spain. Look how fierce this mom is - she is working it!

In one of the plazas closest to our apartment, there is a small play area which gets very popular around 7 or 8 p.m. every night. I call this plaza “Plaza de los Niños” (The Children’s Plaza.) Watching children play at this plaza is a delight for me. A large plaza in the center of town called Plaza Nueva is also full of children playing every night.


Seeing very young and very old people together is quite common in Spain. When walking around our little neighborhood at night, we may see a group of 5 old friends – in their 80s – chatting on a bench in a plaza, a couple of middle-aged women meeting for an after-work drink in a neighborhood bar, a small herd of teenagers passing by – destination unknown, and a family of 5 – with their baby buggy leading the crew across a cobblestoned street.

I love it when I’m heading home, it’s late and I’m tired; I look into a bar as I pass by, and I see a lively family gathering with the baby in his stroller parked right next to the table. He doesn't have to miss out on all the fun just because he's 18 mo.s old.