In our families, not greeting an elder is quickly seen as rude. My child sometimes needs time to warm up and dislikes being told to hug people. How do you teach courtesy while still respecting physical boundaries?
We stopped forcing hugs. Greeting can be a hello, namaste, wave or handshake. The child still learns courtesy without having to offer physical affection. Our child reacted better once we explained the change in advance instead of announcing it on the day. Discussing it away from the children reduced the back-and-forth. I would still test it for a short period before making a long commitment.
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We stopped forcing hugs. Greeting can be a hello, namaste, wave or handshake. The child still learns courtesy without having to offer physical affection. We are still not perfect at this, but the arguments are much shorter now. In our house, the practical routine mattered more than the ideal plan.
This is useful, thank you. The practical detail is exactly what I was looking for. Discussing it away from the children reduced the back-and-forth. We only reached that conclusion after trying the other approach first.
This is close to what my spouse is suggesting too. I may have been overcomplicating it. A little predictable one-to-one time changed the mood more than we expected. We only reached that conclusion after trying the other approach first.
This is close to what my spouse is suggesting too. I may have been overcomplicating it. We picked the two boundaries that mattered most and relaxed about smaller differences. We are in Chennai, so local logistics may be a little different.
We stopped forcing hugs. Greeting can be a hello, namaste, wave or handshake. The child still learns courtesy without having to offer physical affection. We changed our approach after about a month because the first plan was too hard to sustain.
This is close to what my spouse is suggesting too. I may have been overcomplicating it. Discussing it away from the children reduced the back-and-forth. We made the change gradually rather than all at once.
Interesting — we had assumed the opposite. Helpful to hear a first-hand experience. The rule became easier once all adults used the same answer. In our house, the practical routine mattered more than the ideal plan.
Interesting — we had assumed the opposite. Helpful to hear a first-hand experience. Discussing it away from the children reduced the back-and-forth. We are in Hyderabad, so local logistics may be a little different.