• In my culture, children are expected to greet everyone in the room with a hug and a kiss. • My daughter didn't like to and often screamed when relatives tried to hug and kiss her. • I teach my kid that she has choices and can say no whenever she feels uncomfortable.

My young daughter wasn't yet 1 years old the first time she shook her head and stretched her hands out to push away a hug from relatives. Everyone laughed it off, assuming she would grow out of it.

What they didn't realize was that, even at that age, I was teaching her that she always has a choice — something I didn't have growing up.

Every family gathering began the same way when I was a kid. I would open my grandparents' front door, and the smell of tamales, turkey, rice, and the best of our Mexican-American world wo

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