After a year of work, we presented the preliminary results of Time to Play, which in alliance with Un Kilo de Ayuda and in collaboration with the Innovation Accelerator for Early Childhood of the U-ERRE, we implemented in 24 communities in Chiapas to improve the parenting skills of parents and caretakers of children aged 0-5 years.

With this project, which encourages positive interactions through play as a comprehensive development tool, we are impacting more than 800 early childhood children, more than 800 primary caretakers and more than 60 hadas del juego (play fairies), who are mothers from the same communities who were trained as project facilitators.

Time to Play is one of our bets in the work we do for early childhood. We seek to build resilient communities in which early care and education services are of better quality, parents and caretakers have positive parenting skills and public spaces have a childhood perspective. Our social investment projects are boosted by FEMSA’s Business Units, such as Coca-Cola FEMSA and OXXO.

The relevance of projects like Time to Play lies in the fact that, during early childhood, which includes pregnancy and the first five years of life, changes occur that accompany the growth and development of children and lay the foundations for their future. In this period, interaction with the environment and the creation of affective bonds with caregivers allow the generation of new neural connections and strengthen all kinds of skills that will be decisive for their future. For this reason, the quantity and quality of the experiences they live during this stage will lay the foundations not only for the future of children but also for that of the whole of society.

“In order for children to grow up healthy and develop their capacities to the fullest, we need to strengthen the capacities of the adults who take care of them, both in their families and in educational centers. Time to Play has been a great opportunity to support the parents and caretakers of 800 children in Chiapas. We believe that this project has great potential to benefit more families and close development gaps in the country,” said Eva Fernández, our Manager of Social Investment in Early Childhood.

The model has proven to be replicable and adaptable to different contexts, since it was implemented as part of the project portfolio of the Innovation Accelerator for Early Childhood of the U-ERRE in the State of Mexico and is now being replicated in Chiapas thanks to our alliance with Un Kilo de Ayuda.

67% of the children under 5 years of age in these communities do not attend any initial education center for their care, learning or early stimulation, so it becomes even more relevant for their parents to expand their knowledge on child development and learn about the ways in which they can shape and guide play for the positive development of children.

“More than two years ago we were selected with the initiative Time to Play which we successfully implemented in the State of Mexico and today it is a reality in San Cristóbal. In this area of Chiapas, we had great challenges to overcome such as the different indigenous languages and the traditions and customs in order to sensitize and interest parents and caretakers on the richness of play when learning and improving upbringing practices in children under 5 years of age ”, stated Pedro Reverté, General Director of Un Kilo de Ayuda.