SuitabookMiles is the boss of his body
Samantha Kurtzman-Counter
- Reading
- Read together and pause when each kind of touch occurs. Invite the child to name how it might feel and practise respectful responses, without requiring them to share personal experiences.
- Themes
- Bodily autonomy and boundaries: Miles experiences several unwanted forms of touch from family members and eventually says he is the “boss of his body”. The story clearly supports Miles’s right to voice discomfort and presents his family’s respect for that boundary positively.
- Family response to discomfort: After Miles retreats, his mother tells him he is not in trouble, and his parents say no one should touch him in unwanted ways. The adults’ response models listening and reassurance rather than punishment.
- Safety and unwanted touch: The story frames unwanted touch as a safety concern and includes family contact rather than focusing only on strangers. It introduces a practical safety concept through a familiar, comic fictional situation.
- Worth knowing
- Some children may find the repeated pinching, noogies, tight hugs, lifting and tickling uncomfortable or recognisable. The family’s support follows, but the ending’s wider implications remain unclear.