In a November 2005 edition of The Straits Times, a leading Singapore daily broadsheet, there is a report on Singapore scientists’ ongoing efforts to find a way to transmit “cyber hugs.”  

In the report, Adrian David Cheok, Nanyang Technological University Interaction and Entertainment Research Centre director, says, “The team is thinking of a wireless pajama suit for children, which would use the Internet to adjust pressure and temperature to simulate the feeling of being hugged. Parents in a similar suit could be ‘hugged back’ by their children.”

You may be wondering why science is showing keen interest in such an everyday gesture. Indeed, while you’ve relied on it as a natural painkiller after your little one has scraped his knee, hugging unwittingly has many other positive side effects.

Various studies have shown the close association between, on the one hand, the positive emotions derived from this simple act of affection, and, on the other, overall well-being. Hugging and close physical contact have been advocated by countless child experts as an invaluable element in child development.  
 

Hugs Build a Child’s Life Skills
Letitia Ho, Ph.D., a developmental pediatrician holding clinic in Quezon City, relates, “I can usually tell which among my child patients are children of ‘touch’ parents. They grow up to be very expressive and warm. I’ve observed that children who aren’t hugged very often, or aren’t shown affection by their family, usually grow up putting a distance between themselves and other people. There is a certain coldness about them as kids that gets carried on into adulthood.”

Ho stresses that hugging fortifies a child’s self-esteem. “Hugging is a gesture of affirmation, appreciation, and acknowledgment,” she says. “A child who is hugged often acquires a positive self-concept, whereas a child who is hug-starved or doesn’t receive any other form of affirmation at home will start asking ‘Am I loved here?’”

Click here to read more about building a child's life skills and the benefits of hugging.