Tactile

People need touch. I had to give out hugs in camp to 10 year olds away from home, because they needed hugs. I stole a hug off Ah.med the other day after being put on the shoulders of someone who then proceeded to run around. It was not fun, and I was shaken, and when put down I whimpered and got a hug off Ah.med and it was good.

Sorry, it just ocurred to me about this one time when I was maybe 13 or 14, on a normal day, I grasped onto my friend's arm and wouldn't let go for about half an hour.... until she pried me off. I was essentially afraid to let go of her and to lose contact and something to hang on to. I'm a logical person and I knew it wouldn't hurt me to let go, but I couldn't bring myself to just let go of her. It was completely irrational. And yet with all this new knowledge about kids and touch I realise that because I was going through such a bad time (and 13/14 is always a bad time for people... but it was especially moreso for me because I was in a new environment and had culture shock and had left all my friends behind and not getting on terribly well with my mom at the time) and did not get much contact from other people, no hugs or shoulder pats or anything, and I guess I just needed it, on a very basic level, not even realising conciously that I'd been completely devoid of human touch and craving it.