People criticize your parenting when your child does not want to approach them...

yes it’s so annoying. people can go lick tree bark honestly

Yep. I had to tell my ex-MIL she isn't allowed to force the girls to hug her and she got so damn pouty when they wouldn't want to.

My youngest won't even look at people for the first 10 minutes. We just let her get on with it and not force her. I try to ignore all the remarks.

I feel that touch and greetings from my LO is down to consent. If she doesn’t want to, it’s not happening so we all need to respect her boundaries and move on. I smooth over it with ‘ooow not today eh’ or ‘she takes time to warm up with everyone, don’t worry’ and that’s it, very casual / smiley. IF ANYONE said anything about me and bby being too close I’d remind them this era of her life isn’t going to last forever, I’m doing everything I can to hold on to it, nothing better than this.

I've always hated that! Also, when parents make their kids sit on Santa's or the Easter bunnies lap, too. Why should we be teaching our kids that they have to allow people to touch them when they don't want it? Seems very opposite of what we should be teaching!

Currently fuming--dealing with this constantly

I find it so offensive that they blame you?! Wtf? It’s actually a compliment that the kid only wants to be with mummy, or knows to turn away instead of feeling forced. It’s one thing to say “say bye” but another to physically touch! I’m thankful that in Vietnamese culture it’s okay to not hug as a greeting or farewell.

They tried before and those that did try got shot down by me so they don’t even dare now. My family have always been very much if you don’t want to hug or kiss someone you don’t have to. My husbands family would feel obliged to hug a tramp on the street if they said hello! It drives me insane I hate that much human contact, I find it completely unnecessary. But a few of tried to push for my daughter to hug people she’d never met and said it was rude that she wouldn’t and then got annoyed when she started screaming no at them. I don’t think they were quite expecting me to shoot back (that side of the family are very people pleasers that do as they’re asked. Mine are not!) that actually no it’s not rude. She’s told not to talk to strangers so why on earth would she hug them because they’re your 12th cousin 6 times removed!

It’s trying to change a habit of a lifetime for them but they’re finally coming round now to see it our way about consent from an early age and keeping her safe in a world that isn’t as safe as it used to be

I have a really hard time with confrontation, but I have no problem kneeling down and helping my kid through setting a boundary. “what’s making you upset buddy” “it’s ok to say no thank you if you don’t want to hug” “I’m going to say bye bye and give hugs but if you don’t want to you can take your car and play over there” “I’ll come get you when you are done”Usually the offending adult recognizes pretty quickly how yucky they were being.

Yup I have a 2 year old and currently 25 weeks pregnant diagnosed HG. My MIL had the nerve to message my husband saying she’s worried I’m hurting my son 💔🤷‍♀️ thanks MIL for crushing my confidence as a mother

There is a lot of backward ass thinking when it comes to parenting. We didn’t have the option of self boundaries when we were little (I’m 35) it was always “give your -insert relative- a hug and kiss goodbye!” And if you didn’t want to you were being rude and sent to your room. We didn’t have bodily autonomy, and people really didn’t understand how it affected children in those days it was a different time for sure. Now there is no real excuse but a lot of the older generation still have it engrained in their brains. My daughter will be raised to speak up for herself and I will always be in her corner if she feels she can’t for whatever reason. Nobody has a right to your child’s body or affections. She is a person, not a doll and she can decide whether or not she would like to give/receive any types of affection.

I’m waiting for all of this at the moment 🙈 my girl is only 6.5 months old but most of my family are not close. My mum will be meeting her for the first time next month, my older sister met her for the first time 2 weeks ago and my youngest sister is meeting her today. I’m a single mum too so of course she is hugely connected to me, there is just us. So far, she is quite happy to go to people (I thought she would be more clingy tbf but she’s quite outgoing) but if that changes I will never force her and I will lose my rag if someone tries to blame my parenting. She is her own person with her own mind and I will always encourage that 100%