Hugs Your Kids Often

I spoke with my mother yesterday, and she told me to hug my kids more often. She has heard on the radio that giving hugs to your kids strengths the bond between parent and children, and it gives the kids a deeper sense of security and self-confidence. She regretted that she did not know about this, and she missed the opportunity to bond deeper with me and my siblings.

I was quite surprise to hear this words from my mother. Just like a typical Asian family where it is often not common for parents to hug their children, my mother never hugged me when I was growing up. In fact, I would feel weird if she came too close to me. I often wondered how it would feel to be hugged, and if it was normal to want to be hugged. I have been giving hugs to DD1 everyday since she was born. I learned from the show 'Super Nanny' to hug DD1 after putting her in time-out so that she knows that I love her enough her bad behavior was unacceptable. Even though she tries to get away from me now, I would insist that sh gives me a hug. Allah SWT willing I hope to remember hugging my girls as much as possible.

"It takes 4 hugs a day to survive, 8 hugs a day to maintain, and 12 hugs a day to grow."
- http://www.indiaparenting.com/child-development/262_1513/hug-your-child.html