Global Hug Your Kids Day – 18 July
Global Hug Your Kids Day is celebrated every year on the third Monday in July. The primary purpose of celebrating this day is to express your love and care for your kids by giving them a hug or two. Hold them close because that one simple act might change everything for the better inside them in the days to come.
In 2022 Global Hug Your Kids Day will be celebrated on July 18. Hug your children. Love them. Spend quality time with them. Time goes faster than you think.
History
Global Hug Your Kids Day was started by Michelle Nichols in 2008, a decade after her son Mark died of brain cancer at the age of 8 ½ in 1998. Nichols found out the hard way that our time together is limited, she wants to inspire the world to make the most of the time we do have. Nichols is hoping that parents and caregivers will hug their kids every day. Of course, kids should get hugged every day, but if you’re not a hugger and you’re a parent…here’s an inspired day to change course.
This special day is a wonderful reminder of how precious life is. If you are lucky enough to be able to hug your child today, do it! Make it a daily habit; it’s one habit you’ll never regret.
Suggested Read: Parent’s Day
Check out these 5 facts about hugs!
Some parents grew up in homes where hugs and other affection were frowned upon, but science doesn’t lie, hugging has been proven to have health benefits for parents and children.
- It will make your child smarter
Hugging is one of the most important stimuli required to grow a healthy brain.
- A hug can alleviate phobias
Research has shown that hugs significantly reduce a person’s existential fears.
- Well-hugged children are less stressed as adults
Hugging relieves stress and teaches children how to cope with it as adults.
- Hugging reduces social anxiety
Oxytocin inspires positive thinking and gives us an optimistic outlook on the world.
- Hugs decrease the feeling of loneliness
When you hug your kid you build a relationship with them and instantly remove their feeling of loneliness.
- It promotes better health
Studies have proven that hugging boosts our immunity. The gentle pressure applied to the sternum (or better known as the breastbone) and the emotional charge created while hugging stimulate the thymus gland, which regulates the body’s production of white blood cells.
- Hugging relaxes muscles
Hugs may not be able to take away our emotional pain, but they can help to alleviate it; hugs tangibly soothe body aches by increasing circulation into the soft tissues.
Suggested Read: International Hug Day
- Hugging helps in discipline
When we want to discipline our kids when they misbehave, we often resort to methods such as putting them in the time-out corner. However, hugging them could be what we need to start the discipline process on a positive note, along with a firm explanation of what they did wrong.
- Hugging will keep both of you happy
The final importance of hugging your kids is to uplift both your spirits and keep you both happy. It will work similarly to meditation and laughter, it will make you feel good at the moment.
- Hugging teaches our children how to give and receive
Hugging a child will educate them on how love is a two-way street. It will teach them the need to show love to others by giving hugs.
The day reminds moms and dads—especially those who are working parents and often gone—to show affection to their kids by hugging them every day. What a great excuse to give your cuties extra cuddles!
Spread the love today!
Suggested Read: Important Days In July
