A mom has spoken out about why she makes her daughter's grandparents ask for consent if they want a hug.
The issue of consent is something that we all deal with every day. Now, one Australian mom has offered the simple message: If you wouldn't make an adult hug you, why should a child be any different?
Mom Brittany Baxter went viral on TikTok after explaining how she "practices consent" with her young daughter, and makes the child's grandparents ask for consent if they want a hug.
If her toddler says no to hugs and kisses from relatives, then she doesn't have to give them.
In her viral video, Baxter starts by saying: "As a parent, I practice consent with my daughter and something’s really been bothering me, so I thought why not take it to TikTok so we can talk about it."
Check out her insightful video below:"Can we please start normalizing the fact that kids do not have to kiss and hug adults?
"My daughter’s almost two years old and I’ve been in the process of teaching her consent basically since the day that she’s been born, and I find it really f***ing unhelpful when the adults in her life are like ‘What?! We have to ask for a kiss and a hug?’, even though I’ve explained why multiple times," she continued.
Baxter goes on to reveal that her relatives can sometimes feel offended or upset if her daughter chooses not to kiss or cuddle them, saying: "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."
She then explained why she thought it was unfair to make a child responsible for the feelings of her older relatives.
"My daughter and her body do not exist to make anyone feel more comfortable and to make anyone feel more loved, it is not her fault and it’s not my fault that the older generation haven't taken the time throughout their entire lives to learn how to regulate their emotions so consent doesn’t continue to be overlooked.
"No one’s feelings are ever going to be more important than my daughter’s right to her own body and I’m sure as s**t not going to allow her to grow up in an environment where 1. She doesn’t know how to say no, and 2. She doesn’t know what it looks like for her not to be respected."
Baxter concluded the video by saying: "Grandparents do better."
After amassing hundreds of thousands of views on the platform, Baxter eventually disabled comments on her video - but that didn't stop people from sharing their thoughts on her parenting method. Soon, the clip was shared by another TikTok user with the handle @hopenminded, and it wasn't long before others shared their thoughts.
There were many other parents who agreed with Baxter's comments, with one person commenting: "Yep! I do the same with my son. I do not make him do anything he feel uncomfortable doing and I don’t tolerate."
A second agreed, writing: "I never told my kids they have to hug, kiss, or talk to people if they don't want to. if folks get mad I don't explain we shrug and walk away."
Brittany also shared another video explaining how parents should handle a situation with relatives, check it out below:
So, what do you think? Is this something all parents should adopt from now on? Let us know in the comments.
