Liu Ting/Wen The incident of a four year old boy being accused of touching his buttocks has recently sparked heated discussions. The incident itself is not complicated: a young child lost balance while running and accidentally touched a young woman's buttocks, which the woman claimed to be "touching her buttocks". The public opinion has little disagreement on this matter, almost unanimously questioning the woman's excessive rights protection, and even believing that she just wants to create traffic. As a psychological professional, what I would rather talk about is what harm can be caused to a young child when the legal and moral label of "molestation", which is full of adult sexual connotations, is attached to the child?

From the perspective of children's psychological development, the cognitive level, motor control ability, and understanding of "sex" of four year old children are fundamentally different from those of adults. Four year old children are in a critical period of developing large muscle movements. Running, jumping, climbing, and other movements are their basic ways of understanding the world. However, their body coordination and spatial judgment are far from mature. Colliding with people while running or touching their bodies with their hands is a common accident that occurs every day. Developmental psychology research also shows that occasional physical exploration and physical contact with others in preschool children are usually within the normal range of development. Their behavioral motivation may come from the instinct to chase and play, excitement for speed, and exploration of the surrounding environment, but there is no "sexual intention" in the context of adults.

More importantly, the "sexual consciousness" of four year old children is more manifested as curiosity about their bodies and gender, and is a pure cognitive activity. They will ask 'Where do I come from?', be curious about the differences between male and female bodies, and touch their genitals. But these have nothing to do with adult sexual desire. Psychological research reminds us that adults are prone to misinterpreting normal child behavior as having sexual connotations. This adult oriented misreading may lead to inappropriate labeling of children and cause psychological harm. To put it simply, when a four year old child touches someone's buttocks, there is no essential difference in their cognitive world compared to touching their arms or shoulders. This incident is just a 'traffic accident' in a young child's exploration of the world.

Therefore, when we define this behavior as' molestation ', we not only deviate from the actual laws of young children's mental and physical development, but also judge a child who has not yet established basic moral judgment ability with a set of adult rules. Piaget's theory of moral development states that young children are in the stage of heteronomy and cannot make moral judgments based on subjective intentions. Judging a four year old child based on the sexuality and sin of the adult world is not only unfair, but may also cause profound psychological harm to them. Children may be confused: I just ran over, why is Auntie so angry? Why do people say I did something very bad? If this confusion is not properly addressed, it may transform into fear of physical contact, excessive vigilance towards strangers, and even affect his ability to establish healthy interpersonal relationships in the future.A child who should have felt happy while running is forced to face the adult world of sex and sin in advance, which is such an absurd dislocation.

It is normal for the touched person to feel uncomfortable, and their physical boundaries should be respected. Anyone has the right to express dissatisfaction with unpleasant physical contact. But this expression of 'dissatisfaction' should be matched with the age, intention, and cognitive level of the perpetrator. If a four year old child accidentally meets you, you can demand an apology from him and remind his parents to strengthen supervision in public places. But the persistent entanglement and frequent accusations of "molestation" go beyond the scope of reasonable reactions, and are more like emotional release or neglect of children's identity.

What should be reflected upon more from this incident is whether we still have the ability to see the world from a child's perspective. A policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics emphasizes that age appropriate sex education, teaching about bodily autonomy and privacy boundaries should begin in early childhood, while avoiding treating children's curious behavior in a humiliating or adult like manner. If we are accustomed to interpreting all behaviors of young children with an adult perspective, not only will we wrongly accuse a child, but we may also lead the entire society into an excessive vigilance and distrust towards children. Children need guidance and education, not labels and judgments.

Finally, I also want to give a suggestion to parents who have to face similar situations: squat down and calmly tell their children to "look ahead when running, try not to bump into others as much as possible, and apologize to the aunt". At the same time, parents should express apologies to the other party and explain that the child did not intend it. If the other party is emotionally agitated, parents should protect their children from conflict and seek police intervention if necessary, allowing the law and common sense to judge, rather than letting their children be burned by the word 'molestation' in front of everyone.

(The author is a psychological counselor and social worker)

(Author's Commentary)