Sponge-brain kids need hugs and hand holding, I am a jungle gym and I am proud

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I really enjoyed listening to guest speaker and masseuse Elizabeth Robinson. I enjoyed the grounding activities she walked and talked us through and I really was engaged and quite captivated by the way she so naturally could read the room and seem to know what to do about it.


I remember when I first had that thought as she was speaking, I realized that that is a skill and knowledge I want to have as I progress after college to become an elementary school teacher one day with my own classroom. I am very passionate about teaching, specifically in regards to the youngest of students. In elementary years, these humans are truly piecing together what is their perception of what, to them, is a brand new world, and they want to do it in all the ways that they can. For this reason I believe incorporating and appreciating aspects of all the senses in learning is an important value all teachers should have.


When Elizabeth asked the class about our experiences with touch/massage in school I mentioned to her how I work at a daycare as an assistant teacher with 1-4th grade students (6-10 yrs) where many of the kids love to climb all over me like I'm a jungle gym, give me hugs, braid my hair, sit on my lap, hold my hand, etc. and how the head teacher I mainly work with always scolds such things. I don’t know exactly what it is in her mind that makes her do so. I’ve wondered if she thinks it is inappropriate in some way, which always makes me feel uncomfortable, or sometimes I feel she just wants to tell the kids “no” to something and feel some sort of control? (A tiny part of me feels deep down she’s slightly jealous the kids love to run into me to give me hugs and all that hehehe but sorry girl I can’t help it)


I'll just be coloring or doing whatever and a child will casually climb and hang on me like this lol

Which I usually don't mind! Sometimes kids can get too silly for safety and suddenly there are 4 attempting to do the same thing at the same time, but that is when I establish my boundary and ask the kids to get off. I feel like allowing children to do things like this allows for valuable teaching moments. Self control and respect is needed when I ask them to get off, and depending on the situation the child learns how to respect me and my wishes and how to control their bodies enough to calm down and space themselves from me if I ask them to do so. The absence of these situations entirely leaves children without much experience with being in actual situations where physical boundaries need to be set.


I wish kids were allowed to have more of the relationship that I have with them. OBVIOUSLY there are boundaries when it comes to touch. But in my situation, I just get sad (and the kids get sad too!) when they are scolded or reprimanded for doing something such as giving a hug or holding a teacher's hand. It confuses the kids when they do something they think of as nice and are punished for it. 

I want to ask the head teacher what she is truly trying to teach them when she reacts the way she does when the kids get “touchy”, because I can’t tell if she even knows. I get nervous as I am a newer employee there and she is obviously in more of an authority position than I am, but I truly wonder

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