I'm an adult little and I've been trying to explain to people that my little space has nothing to do with actual children. How do I deal with people who confuse it with something it's not?

The confusion between adult age regression or DDlg dynamics and any form of child abuse is based on a category error: taking the language of the dynamic (little, caregiver, daddy) and applying it to a context it was not drawn from. The participants are adults, the consent is between adults, and the psychological state of regression is entirely distinct from actual childhood.

The comparison is made frequently by people encountering these dynamics for the first time without context, and it is rarely made in good faith after explanation. The people who persist in conflating the two after a clear explanation have usually made a decision about what they think that cannot be revised by information.

A brief, clear response is more effective than a detailed defence: 'DDlg is a dynamic between consenting adults. It has nothing to do with real children.' This covers the factual matter without inviting extended argument. Some people are genuinely confused and the clarity is useful; others are looking for debate, and a short non-defensive response removes the purchase they are looking for.

Within kink communities, the question almost never arises because the context is understood. Outside community spaces, particularly online, the conflation appears regularly and the standard community response is the above: clear, brief, and without the apologetic tone that implies the activity is in fact questionable.

You do not owe extensive justification of your kink to people who are not involved in it, and defending it at length to people who are not engaging in good faith is usually not a useful investment of energy.