Dear Frankie,

If you’re wondering whether our cuddles will stop now you’re a teenager, let me reassure you that if anything, they are going to increase. Did you know for a healthy heart and mind, human beings need regular affection?

Touch is essential and there is no substitution for a great big hug! 

As author and family therapist Virginia Satir once said, “We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth”.

My arms are always open to you my Love, never forget that. Nana was a very tactile Mum, so was Nana Jelly, they created a cycle and it’s one you are part of and will continue with your children one day.

Babies are so easy to cuddle and toddlers are too. Most receive hundreds of cuddles a week, they demand it in fact. They are not afraid to let other humans know they desire affection. 

For teenagers it’s not so easy, while developing independence and more privacy, young people can fall into the trap of isolation, they can physically distance themselves from loved ones thinking they are too big now for a reassuring hug.

This is one of the biggest mistakes they could make during adolescence. It’s at this time in a teenager’s life that they need a cuddle more than ever before.

I will never want to stop holding your hand, rubbing your back, kissing your cheek, holding you tight because you can’t just switch off the love when it comes to your children growing up.

It just gets even stronger.

Admittedly it was a lot easier to affectionately tip you upside down when you were 2 or to carry you on my back during our walks in nature.  You are almost as tall as me now and you even fit into lots of my clothes and shoes, so connecting physically has changed quite a bit.

We can rest our arms on each others shoulders now when we go shopping together and we can link too.

We make the time to give each other foot massages and facials. 

So you see my Love, it doesn’t matter how big you get, you are never too old for affection and a loving cuddle from your Mum.

Forever yours,

Mum x

24/02/2022