The holidays are already here, and for many people that means traveling to see relatives or having relatives travel to visit you. Perhaps these are relatives you see frequently, or perhaps you haven’t seen them since the last holiday season. Either way, when older family members see little children who are part of their family, such as a grandchild, something often happens.
Have you ever heard an older person say something along the lines of “Give Grandma a kiss” or “Give Grandpa a hug”? Sometimes the older generation doesn’t even ask and simply starts hugging and kissing their grandchildren whether they like it or not.
Is this a problem? One mom thinks so, and she’s calling out her own parents and all grandparents for it.
This mother turned to TikTok to post a video where she talked about how she is teaching her child consent, boundaries and body autonomy. She shared that her daughter is 1, almost 2, and teaching her daughter about consent has been something that has been important to her since the day her daughter was born.
One problem this mother has had is that the older generation has not respected her daughter’s boundaries. She said, “I find it really f*cking unhelpful when the adults in her life are like, ‘What? We have to ask for a kiss or a hug?’ even though I’ve explained why multiple times. And then when she says ‘no’ they’re like, ‘Oh, she doesn’t love me. My feelings are so hurt.’ And then they proceed to overstep her body boundaries anyway.”
Many young children and toddlers like to give hugs and kisses to their family members, but we completely get how they should not be forced to do so and should have the right to decide not to kiss or hug a grandparent, for example. It seems that the grandparents in this case don’t agree. They feel that their feelings are more important than respecting their grandchild’s feelings and boundaries.
Watch this mom’s full rant about grandparents not respecting her toddler’s boundaries in the video below.
@brittanybaxter_x I said what I said… #gentleparenting #consent #fyp ♬ original sound – Brittany Baxter
When you were a child, were there ever older people in your life, such as grandparents, who you were expected to hug and kiss even if you didn’t want to? Do you agree with the mom in this video that a toddler should be taught consent and boundaries and that grandparents should respect those boundaries?