Kids at (fair) play

[mbumby]

The other day I saw something that really surprised me. There were two kids, one tickling the other mercilessly. At some point, the one said "stop!" and the other did.

Ok, that surprised me a little -- but that's not what really got me.

After she'd gotten her breath back a little bit, the ticklee said "go!"

Comments

[aiela]

it amazes me that there are people who find being tickled pleasant. It makes me want to start punching.

And yay for the kid who has learned to respect boundaries already :)

[judifilksign]

My autistic daughter Sparkle likes tickling, if she can have trust that stop means stop. My family is pretty good about maintaining those boundaries and trust.

I could totally see this happening at my house. I think one of the things that makes tickling pleasurable instead of torture is for it to STOP if it becomes overwhelming, and too often, that is not the case, as the tickler keeps at it and at it and at it despite the wishes of the recipient, which is a control trigger, and overstimulating, and thus unpleasant.

[joecoustic]

My father used to play that way with me. I have incredibly good and fond memories of that and still appreciate the trust, comfort and fun that it helped instill. :) It's great to hear about two kids playing that way.

[starcat_jewel]

That's outstanding modeling of ongoing consent.