She Doesnt Owe Anyone a Hug. Not Even at the Holidays

[LisaM]

12. I don't entirely agree with this. Hugging can be beneficial to young children.

I certainly don't advocate rushing after a child and grabbing her against her will, nor do I believe in forcing children to participate in unwelcome touching.

But I also think it can go too far - we don't want kids to grow up fearful of intimacy or touch, and the positive benefits it can bring. Do we want pre-school teachers afraid to hug kids, and just shake hands in the morning? How do you comfort a child who's injured if she's been trained to be averse to all touch?

We're already reading accounts of severely unhappy teenagers who are too connected to devices and not engaged enough in the physical world around them. Without straying into the territory of inappropriate touching, I think that being loving and tactile with children can be a positive thing. I worked with kids 0-5 for a number of years, and loved that I could basically get paid to hug babies (and teach them the alphabet and a few other life skills too!)

https://www.parentingforbrain.com/children-hugging/