I think it’s worth kids experiencing a bit of discomfort so they learn what their own boundaries are and how to communicate them to others. Otherwise, the message is two-fold: “hugging” is somehow inappropriate (of course, it CAN be, but that’s true for any type of touch, communication, gesture etc); and that kids aren’t competent enough to set these boundaries themselves. I suppose there may be specific incidents of inappropriate “hugging” (hands venturing lower than they should, for example), but that’s something that has to be dealt with individually, just as it has for a long time.

If I were a parent I would be making life very difficult for those administrators.

Next thing you know there will be a ‘friend approval committee’ made up of school board members and school administrators and of course someone from legal. All this while here in California, we have schools and teachers who are using physcial and emotional abuse to ‘train’ disabled kids to behave, where bad teachers can keep their jobs inspite of how abusive they are and the schools are in the dumps. Seems to me these districts should be more concerned about the lesson of fearmongering and censorship the are teaching by example then how much these kids are showing some affectiong. Perhaps the energy could be spent teaching some training in ‘saying no’ if tey are worried about harrassement suits or in making sure that they have open communication among the students. But this?
How absurd is this!

Sounds like a breeding ground for Martial Law. Banning what has become a natural greeting for teens is ridiculous. School policies already do a good job turning our children into automatons. Imposing restrictions on healthy affection would only serve to further disconnect feelings from actions. Perhaps including presentations on appropriate displays of affection and ‘how to say no’ in Life Skills classes would better serve our teens.

When I was in HS (I graduated in ’06), my friends and I would hug every day in Spanish class. The profesora must have decided she was uncomfortable with this, because after about two weeks of greeting each other in such a way, she informed us that it was PDA and we could be written up for it.
Of course, I only refrained in her class and continued my hugging anywhere else. No one seemed to mind. I gave a good friend a hug in the hallway, and another student told one of the teachers, “PDA, PDA!”
She said, “Shut up ____! It’s just a hug, it’s not like they’re making out!”
Obviously, she became a favorite.
Today, in college, I give hugs to almost everyone I know – friends, staff. I only refrain from hugging Profs because I feel it may be awkward. But janitors? Oh yeah, they get hugs.
One of my friends bought me a “free hugs” pin for on my purse.
What’s so bad about hugs?

I think as a society, we hug too much. I don’t think it is necessary to hug (or kiss) every time we see someone. Hugging for everything in life is actually new to our society. I think it is because we have become such a needy immature society. Perhaps it’s because everything we do is so impersonal (i.e. electronic devices for communicating) that we crave human contact. Should hugging be banned? No. But should we move away from needing that emotional assurance 10 or 20 times a day? Yes!

We live in such a violent and depressing society. Im 16 and I get bombarded everyday by media stories of teen violence. If teens hug alot, hey whats the harm, they are creating peace in such a chaotic society.

When can we start having sex as a way to say hello and start the day? I mean if hugging is a natural way to say hello, then sex must really be natural. What can it hurt?

Virginia Satir, family therapist, says that humans need 4 hugs a day for survival, 8 hugs a day for maintenance and 12 hugs a day for growth. I believe that the greatest poverty is not of food or money, but rather the lack of embracing the human soul. God made us creatures that require deep doses of intimacy to stay emotionally, physically and mentally healthy. Hugging is a healthy and wholesome habit that is endangered by the speed and hustle of our modern American lifestyle and further endangered by the fear of being accused of something other than our pure intentions to simply express our appreciation of one another.
I vote that as long as the hugs are wholesome that they should keep it up.

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