I appreciate this thread. For some reason, a lot of people reject the inner child concept. I used to think it was weird, too, until I started seeing my current T, who does IFS (internal family systems). She taught me that there can be many parts: infant, child, teenage, and adult parts inside of us. They are just different parts of our personality. We also have a Self, and our goal is to have the Self act as leader of all the parts so they work as a whole, like an orchestra with a conductor.

The child part is there, inside of us. We were all children once, and sometimes react as though we were still a child. It's not always negative. When we have fun and are playful, that's the child part acting like she should be acting--as a child. My T says the goal is NOT to have the child parts grow up, but to release any burdens they are holding from the past, and let them just be happy! That's IFS therapy.