Spotlight article – The importance of physical touch in schools
September 4th, 2009 | 
Author: Related to yesterdays blog about touch and bonding I came across this article about touch between teachers and pupils. It is a well written article that gets you thinking.
The importance of physical touch in a school environment
Would love to hear your thoughts on this subject, how do you feel about physical contact from your child’s educators … or lack thereof? Would a no contact rule be beneficial to our children or like me do you think that we would be damaging and disadvantaging our children in the long run all in the interest of keeping them safe from the risk of inappropriate touch.
I have always had a personal rule to trust my children’s innate instinct and to never force them to greet an adult they don’t want to. It is embarrassing at times and I have found myself being apologetic or trying to cover up what is perceived as rudeness but have recently again had this highlighted to me – if your child does not want to greet or have contact with an adult you need to respect that desire irrespective of who that person is – your child has their reasons and that instinct to stay away is what will keep them safe if you respect and nurture it.
Posted in Activities with kids, Health, Parenting, Spotlight Articles | 
Tags: Bonding, For Kids, Health, Parenting, Spotlight
I have the very same problem. Being a teacher myself, you have to think where your boundaries are – I have a GIANT personal space ¨bubble and some learners love hugging me – I HATED this, until I realised there was nothing ughy about it. They were expressing themselves, as were others who would rather die than greet one in the shop
I do what I have to, to help HIM grow….
Now that I have a very intuitive little boy, I do sort of apologise, but generally find other things to talk about to the person as a means of distraction – I fully believe my child knows who he will and will NOT be hugged etc by, and I let him decide. It´s more not wanting to force him to do stuff, than it is letting him decide though – if that makes sense? And I am beyond worrying about other people thinking my kid is rude