While I can totally see where they're coming from, I cannot fully support this. At least not right now...

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According to FOX News, the Girl Scouts of the USA are cautioning parents to not force their daughters to give relatives affection, namely hugs or kisses. Instead, offer up a high five, or "knucks" instead.

Yeah, because grandma and grandpa whom you haven't seen since Christmas will love that...

The organization, which aims to build courage, confidence and character in young girls, explains it this way on their website:

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.

I don't know about your children, but my daughter turns two next month and she's already one of the most loving and affectionate kids I know. But if her heart is this big next year and the year after that, I'm not going to stop her from hugging mine or my wife's parents just to teach a "lesson" for the future.

Look, I get that sexual harassment and misconduct are the hot topic right now across the country, but this is going a little extreme in my book to say we need to start teaching our little girls at three, five, or even eight years old to shy away from a little smooch or warm embrace from your grandparents or any other family members.

I think what it comes down to is letting her/them do what they're most comfortable with... if they want to give grandma a kiss, they should feel that they can. If they'd rather not hug Uncle John when he asks for it, that's OK too.

Do we need to sit down and explain the difference between right and wrong touching, and other inappropriate behavior? Absolutely. But those "lessons" can come later in life when they're more mature and their growing and expanding minds can handle it.

So while my daughter is obviously WAY too young to understand any of this b.s. our country is going through with all these monsters in office, on the big screen, or anyone else in the public eye being ousted, I won't discourage her from giving her papa a big ol' hug the next time he wants one.

He'll get it, and both my daughter and he will be that much happier because of it.

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