Would you allow strangers to hug your children

[readingisallowed]

I saw the royal family walking in Sandringham on Christmas day and the number of strangers hugging George, Charlotte and Louis. Why are William and Catherine thinking that this is ok.

Why do you think this is not? What specific concerns do you have about hugging children?

No, I would not allow it.

I would have thought that as they get older they are taught to tactfully dodge hugs and kisses etc, but it also shows a woeful lack of common sense and personal boundaries from ‘well-wishers’ thinking that other people’s children are public property for them to touch as they see fit. irrespective of the fact that they are Royal children, no one should have to tolerate being touched by a stranger.

@Catzado you allow all and sundry to hug your children.
I bet if you were walking in a park and strangers came up to your children and tried to hug I'm sure you wouldn't let them.

This doesn't answer my question. What is your specific concerns about hugging children? What do you think might happen?

Don't worry about what I will and won't allow for a moment. Just answer a question.

Completely different situation. My children aren't royals at a planned event. Obviously I wouldn't let a stranger randomly hug my child.

No I wouldn't and I wouldn't go hug a random child, royal or not they deserve to have their personal space respected

I agree with your general view on the royal children and the Christmas walkabout thing.
But I think it’s disingenuous to try to pretend you think it’s equivalent to you walking through a park with your child.

They should not have allowed that type of contact with the children in the first place, what if more, and more people want to hug them? It should not be permitted.

The reason I don't think it's appropriate for the people at Sandringham to hug the children is another time if the children don't hug at a different event it could turn sour. Also some perverts could touch in the wrong places and no one could see or do anything until after.
The children also are allowed to have their own space.

Well i prssume the children are old enough to say no if they dont like it, my child is their own person so up to them

I suppose my main concern is a parent of somebody hugging my child that they might stab them straight through the vital organs
I’m amazed this hasn’t occurred to the Royals

No, I wouldn't allow it. It's fine to be friendly, shake hands etc. William and Kate probably think they are teaching their kids to be "kind" or "down to earth", but those kids are allowed boundaries too.

Don't go to disneyworld op! You'll be absolutely horrified.

Generally, I do not want strangers hugging my kids though, no.

It also depends if my kids actually want a hug. A little toddler attached himself to my leg once at the library. I don't know why, he just took a shine to me.

I highly doubt the royal children wanted a hug from any of the fans!

the public shouldn’t hug children in the royal families nor be allowed to do so.

It’s inappropriate, sends unhelpful messages to DC about autonomy over their body, and could be stressful even as a one off.

Absolutely not.

Agree. It's not that anything sinister is likely to happen in that moment, but more about the message it sends.

I don't have immense wealth and privilege riding on my continued ability to delude the public into thinking I and my family have meaning for them. The modern public are not as easily fobbed off with a wave from a car and need to feel an emotional connection to these people in order to keep bank rolling them. I suppose they think needs must.

but those kids are allowed boundaries too
Some kids
do like it though. Mu daughter lived to be hugged by whoever was willing to do so. My son quite liked it too.

Most kids used to enjoy it or at least didn't feel bad about it. It's now that parents are horrified by it that more kids seem to be repulsed by it.

Strongly disagree with your suggestion @Passaggressfedup that ‘most kids’ would enjoy being hugged by strangers, especially when initiated by the strangers.

The possible reasons for the royals to allow it is interesting to consider. I’m a staunch republican so find even adult ‘working royals’ thing strange and undesirable. With DC it seems not in their interests to appear publicly much at all.

Celebrities, for example, mostly seek privacy for their DC. They of course are not publicly funded.

I find it very uncomfortable, and I don’t agree with people hugging them or giving them gifts. I don’t understand the mindset of those people who want to hug them.

I am not in the least bit bothered about people hugging my children. If my children said they didn't want a hug and the person continued, it would be different.

This, it’s PR.

The children are surrounded by bodyguards who would step in at lightning speed if something untoward happened. That said, I find how people treat and revier the royal family quite bizarre, so I expect behaviour around them to be strange, like the giving of flowers and gifts. Those things are not going anywhere near a royal household!

Don’t they vet the people standing there

I’ll start:

1. anyone hugging a child has a vastly increased opportunity to touch them inappropriately, grope them and say inappropriate things to them. It’s naive to assume that such people would never take the opportunity being offered by the royals on a regular basis;

2. anyone hugging a child has a vastly increased opportunity to do them physical harm; it doesn’t even need to be a knife, a ballpoint pen would do, or a fist. Children are vulnerable, the royal family is a credible target and it’s naive to assume that such people would never take the opportunity being offered by the royals on a regular basis;

3. most people these days understand that bodily autonomy, personal boundaries and the right to decide who touches and who doesn’t are incredibly important and should be instilled in children from the beginning. These children, if they hated being touched/stared at/addressed directly by hundreds of completely unfamiliar adults, would have to defy convention, disappoint their parents and upset hordes of strangers in order to form and hold a normal boundary. It would be much more difficult for them to say no to unwanted contact than for my child or yours. We have no idea how they actually feel about being trotted out like show ponies.