Teaching about consent.

[Thistledew]

DS is 21 months. We have from the start tried to teach him about body consent in an age appropriate way: saying eg "Granny would like a hug, would you like to give her one?" Rather than "Give Granny a hug". Making sure that tickling games are instigated and stopped by him.

Recently he has started showing affection to other children. The other day in the park he spontaneously went up to a little girl about his own age and gave her a hug and a kiss.

My intellectual response was to gently suggest to him that she might not want a hug and kiss so he shouldn't do it. My emotional response was to go "aww" and to delight in and not curb his show of affection.

What would you do?

[rainingcatsanddog]

As a general rule, toddlers shouldn't hug "strange" kids. It can easily go wrong when the hugger squeezes too tight or the hugged child misinterprets the hug as a potential act of aggression.

If he wants to hug someone then it's fine to ask but many like their space uninvaded so not to feel bad if a hug is declined.

[BlueChampagne]

Your intellectual response is consistent with what you're already trying to instil. The other child's parent may not see it as cute. Consistency is important with small people!