Tickling children can be emotionally damaging, science says

Tickling children can do more harm than good. One study showed that only 32% of respondents said they enjoyed being tickled, another 32% gave a neutral response, and the remaining 36% said they didn’t.

In childhood, everyone at some point in their lives has been tickled, and that’s why it ends up looking like something normal. But you may remember that there was also a time when not wearing a seat belt was considered normal.

O awesome.club reviewed a lot of research on this topic and wants to explain why you should stop tickling children and look for another way to have fun with them. Maybe telling a joke or joking around is a better idea.

Children, especially sensitive ones, can’t stop laughing when they’re tickled, even if they hate it. This laughter gives parents the illusion that the child is enjoying it, even if it is not.

In research conducted by the University of California in 1997, scientists found that tickling doesn’t create the same happiness as when a person laughs at a funny joke. Tickles only create an external illusion that the person is having fun.

A person who is ticklish loses control of himself. Fighting for control can be humiliating for a child and leave unpleasant memories for a long time. When adults tickle children, most of the time they want to have fun, but that doesn’t mean the result isn’t harmful.

According with the doctor. Richard Alexander, professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan, USA, tickling can be a form of dominance and laughter is an evolutionary way of demonstrating submission.

Tickling has been used as a method of torture for ages. During the Han dynasty in China, tickling was a method used to torture the nobility, as it left no marks and the victim could recover quickly and easily. This method was also popular in Japan, where a special term was used for it: kusuguri-zemewhose meaning is: “cruel tickling”.

Vernon R. Wiehe of the University of Kentucky studied 150 adults who were abused by their siblings during childhood. Many of the study subjects reported tickling as a type of physical abuse. The study concluded that tickling can cause extreme physiological reactions in the victim, such as vomiting and loss of consciousness due to the inability to breathe.

Tickles can cause fits of uncontrollable laughter that are difficult to stop. The laughter caused by the continuous tickling can get to the point that the person receiving them may not be able to breathe properly or may not be able to say they are in a sticky situation. Something that started out as a diversion can lead to serious medical complications. And why have fun tickling when there are other ways to do it?

According to Dr. Alexander, tickle against a person’s will can actually cause a “great mental pain”🇧🇷 And sometimes, that pain can last forever.

Patty Wipfler, parenting expert, founder and director of the organization Hand in Hand, says that in her experience, tickling during childhood is a common cause of emotional changes, even in adults. She wrote, “In my many years of listening to adults talk about the emotional changes in their lives during childhood, tickling has emerged as a painful experience.”

She indicates that this experience can lead to situations where the affected person cannot relax when there are other people around them, and they even feel insecure when sleeping next to a trusted partner. They are internally on the alert whenever there is more than casual contact between them and someone they love.

In general, parents think they know what is good for their children and, from experience, feel that tickling is normal. However, given the various dangers of tickling and knowing that there are better ways to bond, it is best to avoid them.

And if for some reason you still want to tickle, it is advisable to ask the child for permission. Parents should always ask before touching their child or making decisions that will affect their body. What are other ways to have fun or bond with your kids? Well, the simple Google search engine will bring you a lot of answers.

And you, what do you think about tickling? Did you enjoy being tickled as a child? Share your opinion in the comments. If you liked our post, share it with other parents.