Nursery World - Making contact (1)

Practitioners who work with young children are being scared off physical contact with them, believes John Powell, though it's something that all children need It seems so natural and important to be able to give a child a hug when they are upset and need the reassurance that words alone cannot give. But many of the assumptions that are taken for granted about the benefits of touch are now being questioned. A sense of unease, sometimes verging on panic, has entered this area of professional practice.

It seems so natural and important to be able to give a child a hug when they are upset and need the reassurance that words alone cannot give. But many of the assumptions that are taken for granted about the benefits of touch are now being questioned. A sense of unease, sometimes verging on panic, has entered this area of professional practice.

In a discussion during a session concerned with child protection issues, one of my students, a male early years trainee teacher, commented that he was worried when young children sat on his lap, especially when he was on his own with the class. He added that even when he had explained to the children that he preferred not touching, 'they seemed to make physical contact naturally, no matter how many times they were reminded not to'.

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