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Tips for helping your child thrive at family gatherings

Help your kids set boundaries for their own bodies and then support them at family gatherings.

 

Family gatherings are such an important part of keeping extended families connected.  While they can be a lot of fun for the adults, they can bring about different emotions for children.

Family gatherings can be overwhelming for kids.

They’re full of family members who are really strangers, interrupted routines, loud voices, and unfamiliar places.

Please allow children to stay with their parents if they are feeling uncomfortable or scared.  Don’t expect them to run to others with open arms or want to kiss and be held by every family member.  Allow them to set their own boundaries and help them to keep those boundaries maintained.

By allowing your children to set their own boundaries you are teaching them that they are the boss of their own bodies.  That’s a lesson that you’ll want them to have learned before they hit their teenage years.

xoxo
–k

Talking to kids about appropriate and inappropriate touching can be hard.  If you don’t know where to start, start here.

Sexual abuse in children occurs more often than we'd like to think. Talking to your kids about the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching is crucial. How do you talk to your children about appropriate and inappropriate touching? You start here...

Sexual abuse in children occurs more often than we’d like to think. Talking to your kids about the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching is crucial. How do you talk to your children about appropriate and inappropriate touching? You start here…

 

Click here to read about how to set up a password for safety with your child

There may be times you aren't able to be there to pick up your kids. Set up a password so they know how to determine if someone is a safe person with whom to leave.

There may be times you aren’t able to be there to pick up your kids. Set up a password so they know how to determine if someone is a safe person with whom to leave.

 

Here are some children’s books that are excellent resources to help you extend this conversation with your kids. (in no particular order)

This post contains affiliate links.

NO Trespassing – This Is MY Body!
by Pattie Fitzgerald

Your Body Belongs to You
by Cornelia Maude Spelman

I Said No! A Kid-to-kid Guide to Keeping Private Parts Private
by Kimberly King

Do You Have a Secret? (Let’s Talk About It!)
by Jennifer Moore-Mallinos

Amazing You!: Getting Smart About Your Private Parts
by Gail Saltz

No Means No!: Teaching children about personal boundaries, respect and consent
by Jayneen Sanders

My Body Belongs to Me from My Head to My Toes
by Dagmar Geisler


My Body Is Private (Albert Whitman Prairie Books)
by Linda Walvoord Girard

Those are MY Private Parts
by Diane Hansen

An Exceptional Children’s Guide to Touch: Teaching Social and Physical Boundaries to Kids
by McKinley Hunter Manasco

It’s MY Body: A Book to Teach Young Children How to Resist Uncomfortable Touch
by Lory Britain

 

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Help your kids set boundaries for their own bodies and then support them at family gatherings.

Filed Under: Children, connection, Family unit, holidays, parenting, Parents/ Grandparents, Uncategorized Tagged With: Uncategorized

Kristina Grum is a Certified Parent Educator who has over a decade of experience working with children, including being a classroom teacher. She currently teaches parenting classes in her local area and writes about shifting parenthood from barely surviving to thriving.

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Hi… I’m Kristina!

Kristina Grum is a Certified Parent Educator who has over a decade of experience working with children, including being a classroom teacher. She currently teaches parenting classes in her local area and writes about shifting parenthood from barely surviving to thriving. Read More…

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