Random Woman Tickles A Little Girl At A Grocery Store And Gets Upset When The Toddler Asks Her To Stop
Children have the same right to set boundaries as anyone else.
Gustavo Fring / Pexels A mom questioned what she should have done after a random stranger tried to play with her daughter without any consent or warning.
In a TikTok video, Alysse Gilbert shared that she'd been at a grocery store with her two-year-old daughter, and was shocked that while in the store, a completely random person had walked up to them and tried to engage with her child without any warning or permission.
A random woman tickled her daughter in the store and got upset when she was told to stop.
"Please tell me if I was wrong. We just got back from Trader Joe's. Now that I've calmed down a little bit, I needed to see what other moms would have done," Gilbert began in her video, putting down her groceries while holding her younger baby in her arms.
Gilbert explained that she had pulled up to Trader Joe's with her baby son attached to her and her toddler in the cart. While in the store a random woman said to Gilbert's daughter that she was very cute. Gilbert and her daughter thanked the woman for the compliment and kept it moving.
"We just kept walking," she recalled. "Then, we see her in the next aisle. I can see out of the corner of my eye she's doing something, but then I hear my daughter say, 'I don't like her.'" When Gilbert fully turned back to look at her daughter, she noticed the same woman from earlier was pretending to tickle the toddler from afar, which Gilbert thought was weird.
However, after the toddler voiced her aversion to the woman, Gilbert immediately moved their cart away. Next thing she knew, they were all standing in line, and the same lady was behind them, once again pretending to tickle her daughter.
That's when Gilbert heard her toddler say to the woman, "Don't touch me," while leaning away from her.
"The lady says to her, 'That's not very nice, sweetie.' I literally almost lost my mind and I said to her, 'You're clearly making her uncomfortable because she doesn't know you.'" At Gilbert's snap-back, the random woman began to laugh and eventually walked away, but the toddler's mother was seething at the entire interaction.
"I am just so confused at what just happened and I'm literally still shaking in anger," she shared. "I get it, that wasn't the nicest thing for my toddler to say but also, don't touch her. You're clearly making her uncomfortable."
Gilbert questioned why older generations feel this entitlement to interact with all children.
She pointed out that a lot of older people feel this need to interact with children that they don't know and an unfounded expectation that the children will be nice to them — something that Gilbert never understood. If a child doesn't know you, they don't know you, and they aren't obligated to speak to you, engage with you, or anything of that matter.
In the comments section, many parents were on Gilbert's side and informed her that she was right to be angry at the woman for trying to touch her daughter.
"It’s not a child’s job to make ANYONE feel comfortable. Good on you and your daughter for standing up for her," one TikTok user pointed out, while another user added, "I’m a childcare worker so I naturally respond to kids staring at me but usually just a literal WAVE! Like a normal human! Like, hi friend."
We teach children to be wary around people they don't know, and in that same breath, force them to kiss their family member they've never met, or hug a random stranger that the parent is friends with but the child doesn't know. If a child objects, then they are reprimanded for being mean and unfriendly. This is the logic that a lot of older generations have used, but it's wrong.
If a child doesn't feel uncomfortable around someone, then they don't have to be around that person, end of story. This entitlement that some adults have towards children is extremely harmful, and it almost feels as if they don't see children as human beings with their own bodily autonomy and rights.
If a child says no, respect that. Children have the same right to set boundaries as anyone else. Just like an adult's "no" should be taken at face value — so should a child's.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.