I was told many years ago by our neighbour how impressed she was that my Mum and Dad were affectionate with each other.

I was so pleased to hear this and still am. The reason is, I am an affectionate person myself. I was looking for a life partner (wife if you don't mind) that was also affectionate.

God gave me the desire of my heart in my precious wife Louise. I do believe there is some kind of Energy in Affection. I know she and I experience that energy ourselves regularly. It helps us get through many of the sorrows and stresses of the day that surround us.

Sad thing is; she had to wait 25 years to get that real affection. Not talking about things that happen between husbands and wives privately. Talking about real affection in HUGS and so on, that should be acceptable in public.

Some people have come from an era where "children should be seen and not heard". I do believe this is probably the same era that taught it was not proper to show real affection even for your own children. For example, I remember recently when Louise's Niece, about 10 years old at the time, tried to give her Grandmother a hug.

You should have seen Louise's Mum's resistance to the affection offered from HER  VERY OWN GRANDDAUGHTER.  We are lucky when Louise's parents come visiting to get a "kiss Hullo" and when a hug has been attempted in the past it has been strongly resisted.

Is this resistance due to some inappropriate affection or behaviour foisted on the particular person in days gone by? Maybe in the odd case, yes but mostly I believe it is this old school thing of not being proper to show affection even in the privacy of your home!

I guess going along with this is another subject...being allowed to cry.
I believe if more people cried some times there would be less nervous breakdowns.

Perhaps the same applies to a good hug every now and then.

I do love Christian Hugs between Bros and Sisters in the Lord. Nothing pleases me more than seeing young girls at church giving each other a hug.
I guess we don't know just how much a hug does for some people.

As I close out here, DADS DON'T FORGET TO BE AFFECTIONATE WITH YOUR SONS!
I love it when I see a dad giving his son/s a kiss.

I believe that if we don't give our kids affection at home...and I mean boys and girls, Dads ok....they will go looking some place else..Maybe to their peril..in a wrong place.