Featured Image Credit: ITV/Pexels
Topics: Parenting, This Morning
Gregory Robinson
A woman on This Morning said parents should ask for permission to change their baby’s nappies during a debate around consent.
Lottie Daley, a mum and good friend of Katy Perry’s ex-husband Russell Brand, chatted with former presenters Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes about whether tickling should be made illegal.
Although tickling may seem like fun and games, the debate on the morning show arose after Brand said he would ‘punch’ anyone who tried to tickle his daughter.
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This lead to conversations about body autonomy and consent and while on the This Morning sofa in 2019 – alongside Vanessa Feltz – Daley compared the tickling situation to changing a nappy.
The mum-of-three said suggested parents should let their children know when they’re about to change their nappies.
It’s all about starting a habit of checking in with your child and making sure their body is theirs, rather than expecting a baby to reply “yes” or “no” to having their nappy changed.
"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 nappy.
"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'."
Later in the segment, when asked if she requests permission from her children to tickle them, she shared: "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."
She continued: "We need to rethink the wider issue of consent, it’s not just applicable to teenagers, it’s applicable from birth. I think we should start to ask those questions and when you look at the wider context, we need to."
Vanessa disagreed with Lottie and said: “I think it’s an absolute shame to say you can’t tickle.
"You don’t tickle someone you don’t know or a child who doesn’t trust you… and start forcibly tickling. But it is the ultimate innocent love, care, fun, physical contact with a child you love and who loves you."
What do you think?