4 ms·

I guess they're referring to things like kids running away from distant relatives who want to kiss and hug them, which is definitely something that happens.

• duderific 7y ago
  Probably because of the big sloppy kisses that grandmas tend to distribute.
  • taejo 7y ago
    That's definitely part of it, but I think (and I also remember) that a part of it is that children have a well-developed sense of personal space and who they are close enough to for different types of contact, from a pretty young age, but their sense of closeness is (quite reasonably) derived from actual (remembered) contact rather than from having a genetic relationship or contact before they can remember.
    • c0vfefe 7y ago
      It's not so much a conscious sense of personal space as it is discomfort with the unfamiliar.
• c0vfefe 7y ago
  We have to remember that kids don't have any reason to love distant relatives, and that adults don't have the right to demand physical affection from kids.