Be generous with hugs

Be generous with hugs to your spouse and do it often in front of your kids.

A hug – so simple and yet so difficult. Giving hugs are not so common among Chinese families. I grew up in a rather typical traditional Chinese family. I have never ever been given a hug by my father before. When I went home to Singapore with Significant Other for a visit for the first time, my Significant Other said to me, “Go ahead, give your dad a hug”.

It was easier for me to hug my mother, but my father?

So my Significant Other took the lead and gave my father a hug. Then it became natural that I followed suit. It was the first time ever I hugged my father, and something strange happened… something inside me melted there and then... and my father too.

Ever since then, each time we visit Singapore, my father will be standing there ALL READY... like a TEDDY BEAR… waiting to receive a hug from me. I could feel it, though he never says it.

Giving hugs is a Danish or European tradition that I would like to pass down to J.