Mom Sparks Backlash By Suggesting Parents Should Ask Their Baby's Permission Before Changing Their Diaper
We live in a world of hugely diverse parenting styles and, as such, there are plenty of unpopular opinions concerning the best way to go about raising a child.
Choosing not to vaccinate your child only to risk them getting infected by a potentially deadly illness is a current example of this.
But recently, an increasing number of parents have been emphasising the importance of consent when it comes to any sort of physical contact with a baby - even forms of contact that exist for the child's own good.
Credit: Pexels / Daniel Reche
In fact, one woman has sparked fierce backlash for advising parents to seek consent from their children before changing their diapers and tickling them.
Lottie Daley, a mother-of-three, made an appearance on UK breakfast show This Morning to speak out against denying children and babies their "body autonomy and consent".
"When you start learning about body autonomy and consent for our children when they become a bit older, we should be modelling this behaviour from birth, like letting your baby know you are changing its [diaper]," she said.
When questioned by the presenters as to what she would do if her baby were to "say no" to having her diaper changed, the mum-of-three replied:
"I want her to know that it's her body. It's not a case of them saying 'yes' or 'no,' it's modelling that repetition and a habit of checking in with your children and making sure they are happy with what you are doing with them."
"When I'm washing my daughters, who are a bit older, they are seven and five, when I've got to wash their bottoms, I do say, 'Can mummy just wash your bottom?' because sometimes you have to. And they say, 'yes' or 'no.'"
Credit: ITV
The heated debate then segued to the topic of 'tickling children without their consent'.
Now, you might have thought tickling could never be seen as anything other than an innocent and playful way of bonding with a child - well, apparently it can.
Daley insisted that she always asks her children permission before tickling them and that it is crucial to do so.
"I asked my children, 'Do you like tickling?' and they said, 'Yes.'
"And I said, 'Would you like it if someone else did it?' and they said they would be scared… because it wasn’t me."
The outspoken mom then argued that consent should not only be perceived as an issue reserved for teenagers and adults but it should instead be "applicable from birth".
Arguing against Daley was 57-year-old British radio host Vanessa Feltz, who said it was an "absolute shame to say you can’t tickle."
Credit: Pexels / Wayne Evans
"You don’t tickle someone you don’t know or a child who doesn’t trust you… and start forcibly tickling," she asserted. "But it is the ultimate innocent love, care, fun, physical contact with a child you love and who loves you."
Viewers of the show also did not take too kindly to the suggestion that they were somehow violating their children by tickling them.
"# ThisMorning discussing ‘should tickling children be made illegal’ what the hell has this world become," one viewer wrote. "Next, you won’t be able to pick up & cuddle your child! #worldsgonebloodymad."
"This Lottie woman on # thismorning is irritating as hell," another added. "Can’t even tickle children these days, even if they love it...# pathetic."
"@thismorning @ EamonnHolmes make tickling illegal!? Lottie needs to have a quiet word with herself!! If tickling becomes illegal, we may as well give up hope on humanity! Almost laughable! Lottie, go home and keep your head, morals and opinions to yourself! Daft! # worldsgonemad," wrote a third.
What do you think? Should we now be wary of tickling children and changing diapers lest we violate our little ones' ability to consent?