I have a ds who is 7. He's madly cuddly, and we've got into a bit of a cycle that isn't so great.
Basically, he's always been 'physical' - little kids are. But he goes too far. As an example, if he kisses me on the cheek, he lunges in, making me pull away otherwise I'll likely get nutted. I don't want to be pulling away from my child, obviously that's a bad signal for a parent to be giving.
Another example: we'll be having a cuddle and he'll be leaning a jabby elbow on my boob. I'll tell him to ease up a bit and he'll instead push down a bit and cuddle in harder. So I'll have to push him off (and he's quite big now), which makes me feel awful. I feel like he's doing it to get attention, even negative attention, but tbh he does get lots - I mean, we're cuddled up in the first place reading a book or chatting or something lovely.
He's now coming to me and soliciting cuddles and kisses, as above, just as I am doing something like carrying a hot pan of water - it's like he is asking for rejection or something, and it's making me very sad.
How can I stop him from physically throwing himself at me, from push push pushing me in a way that makes me have to physically reject him, effectively? It's vital that he respects people physically and he has been given this message for years now.