I preferred to quit the job I loved as a relief assistant rather than compromise my high standards. I was told not to pick up the children or have them sat on my lap. I refused because, apart from recognising it as counter-productive, the rules appear to contravene the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (freedom of expression, article 13), as well as to fly in the face of the Birth to Three Matters framework, which says children could expect to receive a child-initiated cuddle or 'snuggle'. But practitioner-initiated contact such as requesting a kiss or a cuddle from a child, thus pressuring the child to respond, must be deemed improper.
It is time we started putting children's interests first, rather than endorsing the current paranoid rhetoric designed to protect organisations.
Who wants to live in a society where touch is interpreted only as something sexual? Perhaps we need to re-evaluate and re-define our relationship with our children, and then respond, before we breed a generation whose only means of communication will be by e-mail!
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