5-Year-Old Applauded for Setting Boundary for Aunt: ‘Autonomy at Every Age’ [Video]

Setting boundaries is often a practice reserved for adults, but a five-year-old boy has been praised for establishing one with his aunt.

Trauma therapist Simone Saunders, based in Calgary, Alberta, shared the story of how her nephew told her she was expressing her love for him too much.

“My nephew told me that I tell him that I love him too much,” she said in her Instagram reel. Initially surprised, as her nephew is someone who “loves love,” she remained open to the conversation.

Saunders didn’t dismiss or invalidate his feelings, as many adults might. Responses like, “You shouldn’t feel that way, I’m just expressing my love for you” or “there are other kids whose families don’t tell them that they love them” could be common reactions when kids set boundaries.

Instead, Saunders took a different route and said in her reel, …