My toddler touches people!

escortg3

Although this can be normal behaviour it also sometimes can not be. Firstly children need to be aware of touching other people. it is not acceptable behaviour. I have worked with autistic child that used to touch people feet. absolutely loved them. but because his parents let him do it when he was young, he contiunues to do this at 20.This causes major problems. telling a 2-3 years old no and have them playing up is managable, telling a 20 year old no and having them playing up is not so easy. I would get it checked out by a GP

miss_independent

I work with children and so I am used to it! I have long hair that they love to stroke and it doesn't bother me at all but when it happens I tend to try and distract them onto something else.

However, when it is a complete stranger's child as understanding and forgiving as we can all be, I'd be lying if I didn't say it can be annoying or uncomfortable. Last month, I was at an adult's birthday meal where there were alot of children. They had fed the kids first and we sat at the table. One little girl who was 5 or 6 and who I had never met came up to me while I was eating and starting touching my hair. It was a little strange as she was staring at me too and my friends didn't know how to handle it and kept looking at me like "What is she doing?". Next thing, she went and got her doll and started whacking us all on the head with it. We are all in our early and mid twenties and don't have kids yet and didn't want to upset her or her parents. Her parents literally ignored what was going on and it took another mum to have to tell her to stop it. Later in the day, she went and straddled one of my friends who was sitting down and never said a word. She would not move but just stared and stared at her. My friend tried to make conversation with her but she just kept staring and touching her. She sat on top of her for over an hour and my friend had to beg to get to go to the toilet. Again, her mum turned a blind eye. Now, I work with kids with special needs and this girl was perfectly fine apart from this behaviour. In fact, we later discovered it was an attention seeking thing which is why the parents ignored it, however I don't agree with them doing that. My friend felt really uncomfortable and just kept looking at us all helplessly.

So what I'm saying is, whilst it is perfectly normal and sometimes cute, I don't think that means parents should just ignore it. It can be really awkward! So just an apology to the stranger and a "Sweetie, please don't touch people. Some people don't like it when strangers touch them." would go a long way!

meritaten

miss_independent wrote: »

I work with children and so I am used to it! I have long hair that they love to stroke and it doesn't bother me at all but when it happens I tend to try and distract them onto something else.

However, when it is a complete stranger's child as understanding and forgiving as we can all be, I'd be lying if I didn't say it can be annoying or uncomfortable. Last month, I was at an adult's birthday meal where there were alot of children. They had fed the kids first and we sat at the table. One little girl who was 5 or 6 and who I had never met came up to me while I was eating and starting touching my hair. It was a little strange as she was staring at me too and my friends didn't know how to handle it and kept looking at me like "What is she doing?". Next thing, she went and got her doll and started whacking us all on the head with it. We are all in our early and mid twenties and don't have kids yet and didn't want to upset her or her parents. Her parents literally ignored what was going on and it took another mum to have to tell her to stop it. Later in the day, she went and straddled one of my friends who was sitting down and never said a word. She would not move but just stared and stared at her. My friend tried to make conversation with her but she just kept staring and touching her. She sat on top of her for over an hour and my friend had to beg to get to go to the toilet. Again, her mum turned a blind eye. Now, I work with kids with special needs and this girl was perfectly fine apart from this behaviour. In fact, we later discovered it was an attention seeking thing which is why the parents ignored it, however I don't agree with them doing that. My friend felt really uncomfortable and just kept looking at us all helplessly.

So what I'm saying is, whilst it is perfectly normal and sometimes cute, I don't think that means parents should just ignore it. It can be really awkward! So just an apology to the stranger and a "Sweetie, please don't touch people. Some people don't like it when strangers touch them." would go a long way!

I am not disagreeing with you hun, but, its parents like the little girls you have mentioned that really annoy people! parents like the poster are the ones who immediately apologise and remove the child as soon as they see the attention is unwelcome (or even before).
Idiots like the above who let their little darling run wild or plaster themselves against a stranger with just either total oblivion or and indulgent smile would get my goat!
while I cannot be nasty to young kids, I CAN to stupid parents like this and am quite likely to tell them in no uncertain terms to come and get thier offspring off me!