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You are here : home > Raising Children > Parental Relationships > Why Do Children Need Hugs and Kisses?

Why Do Children Need Hugs and Kisses?

Why Do Children Need Hugs and Kisses?

Showering affection on children in form of hugs and kisses is very important for their overall growth and development. Here is why parents should offer hugs and kisses to their children often.

Hugging and kissing your child is not just a sweet gesture but it is actually a vital part of the proper growth and development of the child. It is an essential contributor to social, emotional, mental and physical well being of your kid.
A lack of parental physical affection can affect children, right from childhood to adulthood, leading to reduced emotional stability and psychological problems for the rest of their life. So children need hugs and kisses and here is why:

Importance of Showing Affection

According to developmental psychology researcher Ann Bigelow, physical contact is essential for proper growth and development of infants and children. Newborns who get constant tokens of physical affection like hugs and kisses are calmer and sleep better than those who do not.
Also, as kids grow simple tokens of affection like hugs, kiss on cheek or forehead can develop them socially, emotionally and mentally and help them recognize care givers earlier than those who lack the physical affectionate touch. Simple practices like these not only enhance your bond with your little one but also help them develop self respect and confidence to face the world.

Importance of Hugs and Kisses for Older Children

A recent research has shown that 90% of parents tend to hug and kiss their children but as they reach adolescence, the number drastically drops to a mere 50%. Do parents presume that just because their kids grew up they would not crave for physical affection? Quite the opposite is true actually!
As our children grow up and face the real world, our adolescent children require just as much physical affection as they used to get as kids. They can get self conscious about being hugged and kissed by their parents in public but in the proximity of loved ones, they flourish into loving and caring human beings.

How Hugging and Kissing Can Make Children Emotionally Strong?

According a medical paper submitted in the “Journal of Epidemiology and Health” in 2010, it was conclusively proved that kids who got more physical affection from their parents in the form of hugs and kisses were more likely to develop as emotionally stable adults. These kids showed to have lesser anxiety levels, more energy, drive to succeed and a kinder approach to other children as compared to those who received little or no affection from their parents. Tokens of physical affection such as hugs and kisses can be given by both caregivers i.e., mother and father, in order to promote a healthy balance at home.

How Hugs and Kisses Promote Overall Development?

If you question the premise of how hugging and kissing can help promote the growth and development of your child then here is a scientific proof. Studies done by researchers on orphans from Romania in 1992, showed that kids who received less affection from foster parents experienced stunted physical growth as well as retarded emotional development. Kids who receive more affection from their parents on regular basis as hugs and kisses are more bound to be confident of their abilities and have a feeling of self worth as compared to kids who do not.

Tips for Parents to Show their Affection

Parents should offer hugs, kisses and cuddles to their children regularly to promote a special children-parent bond that will last forever. Apart from physical affection, you can also shower your kids with verbal expressions of love and warmth throughout their life.
When you hug and kiss your child and show how much you love him or her, you instill in your child the self confidence to take on the world all by himself or herself. Children, no matter how grown up, always need tokens of physical affection such as hugs and kisses from their parents to know that they love and respect them wholeheartedly.

What is the importance of showing love and affection to children? What are the effects of neglecting children? In what ways can parents shower affection on their children? Discuss here.


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Hemali
Hemali.6 years ago
Parental affection is very important for children to grow up into stable individuals.
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Naina
Naina.6 years ago
I hug and kiss my child at least once in a day. It is a beautiful feeling.
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Ishika
Ishika.6 years ago
Showing affection to children is extremely important. Otherwise it will affect the parent-child bonding.
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