Something that I’ve always felt strongly about is the fact that children should be in charge of their own bodies. By forcing a kid to hug someone or pretending to cry to try to guilt a child into hugging or kissing you… well you are teaching a kid that it doesn’t matter if they are uncomfortable. By telling them to override that fear, you are saying that an adult’s feelings are more important than theirs.
I’m not okay with that.
So, if Jack doesn’t want to hug someone or kiss someone for any reason, I don’t MAKE him do it. Never ever. I honestly don’t care if he hurts anyone’s feelings. My kid is in charge of his own damn body and he gets to decide whether someone touches him or not.
Anyways, I can feel myself going off on a bit of a tangent… but my point is that a friend tagged me in this poster and I wanted to share it with you all:
You can click on it to make it larger. Or, you can download your own version here: Educate 2 Empower Publishing Posters.
What I’d really love for you to do is share it with the other moms, dads, grandparents, aunts/uncles, babysitters, etc in your life. Or share it on Facebook. Or Instagram. Or Twitter. So that EVERY kid knows that their body belongs only to them.