Teens and Hugging
I can’t imagine what the gatekeepers of our parents’ generation—the ones who blackballed dancing because of all that close physical contact—would have thought about “the hug.” As this New York Times story describes, students hug all. the. time. No excuse is too small for another embrace. It’s a custom custom-built to alienate baffled parents.
As Beth J. Harpaz, a parenting columnist for The Associated Press and author of the book “13 Is the New 18” describes it in the story:
“There doesn’t seem to be any other overt way in which they acknowledge knowing each other,” she continued, describing the scene at her older son’s school in Manhattan. “No hi, no smile, no wave, no high-five — just the hug. Witnessing this interaction always makes me feel like I am a tourist in a country where I do not know the customs and cannot speak the language.”
And to avoid the hug in some circles has become the teen equivalent of, well, over-hugging a generation or two ago:
“If somebody were to not hug someone, to never hug anybody, people might be just a little wary of them and think they are weird or peculiar,” said Gabrielle Brown, a freshman at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in Manhattan.
Read the story for the reactions of the confused and concerned adults. How about your kids and their friends? Huggers? Rebel non-huggers? Have you had to lay down the law about hug-times and physical contact? What are the wisdom issues involved with hugging as the new “hi” among teens?
Previous entry: Friending Your Kids on Facebook
