CSS prevent div flex from stretching child

Question

The moment div has the flex display property it stretches the paragraph. I seem to be missing something but no property I can think to put on the flex div chang

Answer 1

add another wrapper:

div {
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
  flex-direction: column;
  text-align:center;
  height: 200px;
  width: 100px;
}

p span{
  background-color: green;
}

<div>
  <p>
    <span>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod</span>
  </p>
</div>

Related question to understand why your inline is ignored:

Are flex items a block level element?

Usage of display property of flex box items

Answer 2

span { 
  -webkit-box-decoration-break: clone;
  -o-box-decoration-break: clone;
  box-decoration-break: clone;
  background-color: green;
}
div {
  text-align:center;
  height: 200px;
  width: 100px;
}

<div>
  <span>
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod
  </span>
</div