Remember the mum who revealed that she never forces her young daughter to hug her grandparents because she's trying to teach her about consent? Well, she's now offered a scientific explanation to anyone who thinks she's wrong. Watch below:
Brittany Baxter posted a video on TikTok explaining that if her little girl doesn't want to hug someone - including family members like her grandparents - then she's perfectly entitled to say no, and that should be respected.
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Now she's posted a follow-up clip where she uses a science-based article to give more of an explanation as to what she's implementing.
This was in response to someone in her comments, who wrote: "This message is; 'no mum, you can't hug your own grand daughter without asking her first' - which is absolutely ludicrous."
Speaking over a screenshot of the article, Brittany says: "I'm not entirely sure what your qualifications are to make such a statement but I'm going to take this as an opportunity to share mine.
"I have a bachelor in psychological science, I'm a certified life coach and I ran my own body image coaching business up until I fell pregnant with my daughter.
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"But conversations around the importance of what I'm speaking to came up a lot."
She continues: "I've provided you with a reference - this article came out at the Gottman Institute. If you don't know who the Gottmans are, they are two highly respected, well-renowned clinical psychologists and - shock horror - look what this has to say."
The article itself explains: "Giving children choice is a gateway to giving them the tools to express their consent."
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It goes on to add: "A common way children lose their bodily autonomy is through adults coercing them to hug and/or kiss relatives and friends.
"It's important to show children that they have a choice. If they say no, you can give them alternatives, like 'How about a fist bump?' but the key is to respect a 'no' that may follow."
In Brittany's initial argument, she said: "My daughter is almost two years old and I've been in the process of teaching her consent since basically the day she was born.
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"And I find it really f***ing unhelpful when the adults in her life are, like, 'What we have to ask for a kiss and a hug?' even though I've explained why multiple times.
"Then when she says no, they're like, 'Oh she doesn't love me, my feelings are so hurt.'
"And then they proceed to overstep her body boundaries anyway."
Featured Image Credit: TikTok/brittanybaxter_xTopics: Viral, Community, TikTok