TO complement the verbal part of parenting, parents should also show their love by throwing hugs and kisses a few times a day.
Physical contact is the best way to reconfirm and reassure our children of our love for them.
The warmth of the love from a father and mother goes a long way towards creating a psychologically-balanced and smart child.
The late Princess Diana once said, "Hugs can do a great amount of good, especially for children." I couldn't agree more.
The University of North Carolina once conducted a study involving 59 women and the results were quite interesting.
After a question-and-chat session about their partners, some of the women ended the exercise with a 20-second hug.
The women who received a hug from their partners were discovered to have lower blood pressure and heart rates during the more stressful parts of the testing.
The researchers believe that a hormone called oxytocin was released during hugging. It might be the cause for their better heart health.
Studies have also shown that babies and children who receive a lot of appropriate physical touches, hugs and kisses grow up to be more confident, sociable, well behaved and pleasant than those who don't.
Generally, they feel more secure and loved and hence, there's no reason for them to misbehave or disobey their parents.
Meanwhile, those unlucky children who do not receive enough physical contact from their parents or primary caregivers tend to be more aggressive, less confident, insecure and are unable to focus on their studies.
DOSE OF HUGS AND KISSES
Physical contact between parents and their children will help cleanse their mind from any negative feelings.
This is reason enough for us to give them generous amounts of hugs and kisses before dropping them off to school.
With a clear and positive mind, they'd be readier to absorb their lessons and become better students.
Any child craves assurance of love via hugs and kisses. This is especially true when they feel down, frustrated, angry and dejected.
The negative elements need to be quickly eliminated by soothing words and loving gestures.
If left unchecked, they'll fester into feelings of hopelessness or insecurity and could manifest into aggressive and anti-social behaviour.
Let's make a commitment to give our children a generous dose of physical parental contact.
For me, my dose of hugs and kisses are strewn in the morning, in the evening after returning home from the office and before bedtime.
Even if I'm on a business trip, which is quite often, I make it a point to call and send them hugs and kisses — remotely.
Now that we cannot travel, use a webcam to make everyone feel that no one is far away from each other!
Zaid Mohamad coaches and trains parents to experience happier homes and more productive workplaces. Reach him at zaid@smartparents.com.my.