A mum has shared the innovative ‘hug button’ idea she uses to comfort her young daughter who suffers with separation anxiety.
Melissa Conlan, from Wymondham, Norfolk, took to Facebook to tell people about the heartwarming strategy she’d heard other parents were using to help their kids.
The mum shared a picture of a love heart drawn onto the palm of her hand; a symbol she’d told her daughter Elsie was a ‘hug button’. As the young girl prepared to go back to school after summer, Melissa thought the tactic would be worth trying in an attempt to comfort her daughter.
She wrote on Facebook:
Elsie has always suffered with a bit of separation anxiety when going to school and it’s always worse after a holiday.
She was fretting about going to school so I thought what have I got to lose. I drew this on my hand and one on hers.
Melissa told her daughter the button could be ‘charged’ through holding hands, so the mother and daughter did just that as they walked to school. By the time they arrived, Melissa assured her daughter the ‘hug button’ was fully charged and could then be used as a way to have a hug even though the pair weren’t together.
Her post continued:
We walked to school holding hands to charge them up and all the way she asked ‘is it charged yet?’
When we reached her class I told her they were fully charged and to press it whenever she missed me and it would give her a magic hug from me and vice versa.
The technique seemed to do the trick, as Elsie happily went into school ‘with no tears, just a kiss and a smile’.
Though they spent the day apart, the mother and daughter clearly shared a connection throughout the day, as after school Melissa revealed she’d pressed her button 10 times, to which her daughter smiled and responded ‘same as me’.
Melissa shared her story with the hopes of helping other children who suffer with separation anxiety and added ‘whoever came up with this idea you are a genius’.
Her post has since received thousands of comments from pleased parents describing the idea as ‘adorable’ and ‘beautiful’, with many saying they’re going to try the ‘hug button’ strategy for themselves.
It’s truly a lovely idea.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.