Girl Scouts Urges Parents To Not Force Kids To Hug Relatives During The Holidays

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In a holiday-themed blog post gaining attention this week, the organization, which counts 1.8 million young girls as members, reminded parents to not “force” their daughters to hug or kiss relatives if they don’t want to. Doing so, read the post — which is entitled “She Doesn’t Owe Anyone a Hug. Not Even at the Holidays” — could give kids the “wrong idea about consent and physical affection.”

“Think of it this way, telling your child that she owes someone a hug either just because she hasn’t seen this person in a while or because they gave her a gift can set the stage for her questioning whether she ‘owes’ another person any type of physical affection when they’ve bought her dinner or done something else seemingly nice for her later in life,” it continued. 

The blog post has been met with controversy on social media with some people accusing the Girl Scouts of sexualizing innocent family interactions and gestures. Many others, however, have lauded the organization for addressing the important issue of teaching children from a young age about their bodies and consent.

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