How do I teach my child to handle a puppy gently?

Young children often learn gentle touch more effectively by watching and mimicking a slow, flat handed stroke than from a verbal explanation alone. Demonstrating the motion yourself first, then guiding the child's hand, works better than instructions from across the room.

Using a stuffed toy to practice gentle strokes, and to practice not squeezing or grabbing, gives a very young child a low pressure way to build the habit before doing it with a real, moving puppy.

Rather than a single lesson, plan for gentle handling to be practiced a little most days for the first few weeks, since young children in particular need repetition to make a new physical habit automatic rather than something they only remember when reminded in the moment.

Give specific, simple language a young child can hold onto, flat hand, slow and soft, rather than a general instruction like be gentle, which is harder for a small child to translate into an actual physical action without a concrete image to copy.

Watch for a child getting overexcited mid session and reverting to quicker, grabbier movements, which is common and not a sign the earlier teaching failed. A calm reminder and a brief pause to reset usually gets the gentler handling back on track within the same session. Consistent practice over a few weeks tends to make gentle handling feel automatic rather than something a child has to consciously remember every single time they approach the puppy.