The act of touch fulfills the basic human need to feel safe, comfortable and loved.
Touch is also an intrinsic factor in child development, but despite touch’s importance,
in recent years “touching” has been tabooed in the American school system because
of fears of sexual and physical abuse. Elementary and high school teachers have
been mandated not to touch children, and even children as young as preschoolers
cannot be touched in many private nursery schools because of potential accusations
of sexual abuse following increased publicity about abuse in schools