I read recently that we need 12 hugs a day. More specifically, children need 12 hugs a day for growth. I’m guessing we’re not just talking physical growth, but emotional and spiritual and mental growth as well. And if we’re not just talking about physical growth, I reckon the hugging theory applies to adults too.
We are a very close family. We hug eachother all the time, but do our children get 12 hugs a day? Do I? With three children, that’s a lot of hugging, and with two parents working, it means that we have had to squeeze a lot of hugs into a short amount of time. To be honest, I do not think each of our children are getting 12 hugs a day.
Elora gets a lot of hugs because she is little and she demands to be held, carried, cuddled and so forth. Plus, she sleeps in our bed some of the time, with constant access to hugging throughout the night. Matthew and Georgia get lots of hugs, but possibly not 12.
Our children hug eachother a lot. They cuddle if they are watching television. They comfort eachother if the are crying too. They hug when playing games and when excited and happy. They have probably been getting a good amount of hugs per day. In fact, I reckon we’re all so huggable that we are very well hugged, but there is always room for improvement if it means our children’s well being is benefitted.
I’m not exactly going to start keeping a tally of hugging. We just hug our children each time they enter the room. How loved would that make you feel – if every time you walked in the room you were greeted with a hug, a kiss, and the whispered words of ‘I love you, mr/mrs/miss awesomeness?’
It makes me wonder, then, how I am going to be in the mood for hugging if I am feeling stressed/sad/busy etc? And I think the answer is simple. The hugging will benefit me too! Hugging my children and my husband always makes me smile and laugh, and then that makes me feel better!
The article didn’t define a hug. I wondered if a quick hug and kiss would suffice, say, if I was leaving for work and had to say goodbye to the four loves of my life. I also wonder if a really long cuddle during an episode of Play School would count for more than one hug. Nevertheless, the more hugging, the better.
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