World! Can we please teach children to say NO?

A couple of months ago, I was on the playground with my friend and her wonderful daughter. Her daughter is about 1,5 years old and a very active, sometimes a bit rough but an absolutely lovely amazing beautiful loving child.
While playing with some other children, she started to hit them over the head with a plastic toy. Which of course, everyone around didn’t like. The other kid started crying, the mom came to protect it, my friend went over to teach her daughter about not hitting others, being softer and apologized to the other mom.

Since then I have been watching children play some more. And I have seen this a couple of times. There is one kid, that hits the other. The kid that got hurt is immediately protected, hugged by the parent, taken care of. The kid that is hitting immediately gets a lesson on being less harmful, not hitting, not being too strong etc.

And then. I have these people on my working table. Strong, powerful and inspiring people who become exhausted – mostly because they’re holding themselves back because they have this belief that they’re too much (too emotional, too strong, too direct, too… ).

It is exhausting to constantly hold back and evaluate which of our qualities is allowed to be shown and which isn’t.

And then there are these people on my working table.
Strong, powerful and inspiring people who become exhausted – mostly because they feel bullied by their boss, their employee, their government, their friends. Because they have no idea how to say no. How to stand up for themselves and defend against someone who is being unreasonable, mean, inattentive or even just has a different tempo than them. And they’re waiting for the other one to stop, adapt and see them.

Sometimes “these people” are one and the same.
Not knowing how to say no and stop.
Not knowing how to allow their own power to fully be expressed because they’re afraid they’ll harm someone they love.

Man this is FRUSTRATING!

Of course! I want to teach people to not hit others, or be aggressive or hurt them intentionally.
Of course! I want children to learn to notice the others pain and respect and empathize.

But please!
Can we teach each other to say stop!?
Can we teach to mark our boundaries and say when we’re hurt?
Can we teach, that not only will there be someone to give a hug (please give hugs) but also, more importantly, YOU CAN DO SOMETHING!
You can influence! You might need to practice. And sometimes the „something“ might be going away from that person.

But please say no! Please say stop!

With all your power!

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