Kids Need Hugs To Feel Part Of The World
When a child comes into this world, one of the first things he or she will feel is the skin and heart of its mother which gives the child warmth, welcomes it into life, full of feelings, emotions and the value of the feeling that there is someone loves him or her.
We can provide many things to a baby: the daily diet, a good crib, the best clothes and a bedroom full of enough visual stimuli. However, there is something essential through which we can promote mental, physical and emotional development in a great way: this is the hugs, the caresses, the voices that call him or her by his or her name…
Hugs are the roots that connect parents to their children. It’s a great way to recognize them and give them strength, love and security. Through hugs we make them part of ourselves and of our own world.
There are very discouraging statistics about the rearing of babies in a number of orphanages around the world. When children don’t get hugs and caresses, they cry less often, because they understand that no one will come anyway.
They also often develop more slowly. They don’t feel that much curiosity about things around them. This is because they don’t feel safe enough to explore, because they lack that bond with a loving adult that they can fall back on in their quest for stimulation and sensations.
It is imperative that we offer our children physical contact on a daily basis. These hugs make neural connections, amplifying sensations, thoughts and feelings. Their fears, their doubts, their insecurities disappear… It doesn’t matter whether they are two days old or twelve years old. Keep them close to your heat whenever you can (even if they are already at that age where they resist).
Hugs ensure that children grow up healthy
The intimate proximity of skin-to-skin contact between a mother and her children during the first months of life provides a sensory stimulation that not only promotes growth, but even strengthens the immune system and regulates temperature and breathing.
These hugs and caresses will be the first language children receive when they come into this world. It changes into the language of the heart, of your heart, engraving this universal message in their minds forever.
Despite the fact that the first months are almost always very intimate when it comes to the mother-child relationship, the role of their fathers is also vital and physical contact is an excellent way to further enhance the development and safety of the child. .
Hugs create personality
If a mother or father does not put enough emphasis on hugs and caresses, it will have repercussions on the child’s personality.
Hugs are the most meaningful way to build a bond between parents and children. That sweet gesture makes the child feel loved. A beloved child is a safe child, a calm child who is not afraid of uncertainty, who feels acknowledged.
Parents are the first social contact a child has in this world. If that first contact is cold, indifferent, or worse, aggressive, they will, in turn, distrust all other social situations as they grow up.
Children need a stable and solid connection during their early years. This connection strengthens the bond, while also making them feel recognized.
A child who feels recognized not only feels part of his or her family, but also a part of the world. This will give them more confidence in themselves as well as a better perception of their person and their abilities.
Hugs relax and invite to see the world
Have you ever thought about it? Babies spend most of their time lying in their crib, in a horizontal position. Once an adult takes them in their arms, hugs them and cradles them, they have a chance to see the world ahead and they do it in the best way imaginable: calmly and with the feeling of being loved.
There is no more pleasant moment than the days when we begin to discover the world, safe in the arms of our mothers and fathers. Life astonished us with its countless shapes and colors, terrifying and exciting at the same time, while close to us the beating heart of our loved ones could be heard.
You will also agree that there is nothing more calming and satisfying than a hug. If we need them as adults to strengthen that bond, calm the stress, or clear our doubts, that need is all the more relevant when it comes to children.
A baby’s cry will never be without reason. And sometimes their tears aren’t the result of hunger, cold, or anything that’s bothering them at the time. They also demand affection, they also need your hugs to take away the universal fear we all share: loneliness and abandonment. Don’t be stingy with the hugs you give out every day. They cost nothing and they have the power and intensity of an entire universe.
–Images courtesy of Amélie Thiebaud, Pascal Campion, Claudia Tremblay–
