Military + Hockey + Hugs = A Recipe for Success

I just stumbled across this post by Defending the Blue Line, a group that helps bring the sport of ice hockey to the youth of military families. What a cool program!

After the recent Aurora, CO tragedy, they posted:

• “Here is what we know today: Make sure you hug your kids. When you’re done, do it again.”

Short and sweet – but powerful and poignant. Hockey is a tough sport. The military is a tough job. Yet hugs keep us all grounded to what really matters – family, service to country, sports, and kids.

Global Hug Your Kids Day has been looking for ways to tie into the military. Maybe youth hockey is the door.

Comments?

New Yorkers Improve Health Care — With Hugs?

In honor of Global Hug Your Kids Day, Public News Service - some awesome folks! - interviewed me about the health care impact of hugs. With the recent ruling of the Supreme Court on the Affordable Care Act AKA Obamacare, health care is again on folks’ minds – who should pay for it, what should it cover, and more. Hugs have not been part of the discussion because no one can bill for them but I think they should be since everyone can afford them. Talk about affordable care!

I’ve found about 20 health impacts of hugs – raising the good stuff and lowering the bad stuff, including hugs can LOWER: Cortisol, a Stress Hormone, Fear, Pain, High blood pressure, High heart rate, Obesity, Tension, Loneliness, Depression, Insomnia. For my complete list, http://www.hugyourkidsday.com/Health_Care.html

To hear and read their great interview http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/27420-1

PS Last year, Public News Service’s one interview about the Hug holiday got played on 753 stations in 15 states. They rock! 

Yahoo News Announces Global Hug Your Kids Day

We’ve been blessed by more media attention this year. Yea! Hopefully, that means more kids -and their parents – will get hugged, and that, after all, is the point of the holiday.

I was thrilled that we were announced on Yahoo News as the lead story by contributor Cherri Megasko | Yahoo! Contributor Network last week. Here’s the link: http://news.yahoo.com/july-16-global-hug-kids-day-national-corn-065000477.html  I love that our holiday is in the name of the link.

A big hug to Cherri!

 

How to Parent Advice for Jacob and Sophia – Top Baby Names of 2011

A long-ago photo of my husband and our first-born.

The list of the Top Baby Names for 2011 is out. Here’s my how to parent advice: Hug Your Kids every day, no matter whether their name is on the list of Top Baby Names for 2011 or not. Spend at least as much time hugging your kids, especially when they’re teenagers, as you did picking out their names before they were born.

By the way, the list is released by the Social Security Administration, according to Today Moms, part of  MSNBC.Jacob topped the boy’s list (for the thirteenth year in a row) and Sophia was number one for the girls, swapping spots with Isabella, which was number one last year but number two this year.

Parenting is tough. Hugs make it easier – and sweeter. And don’t wait for Global Hug Your Kids Day, July 16, to get started, but for more info, www.hugyourkidsday.com

Hugs and babies – what could be more natural?
Hugs and teenagers – what could be more important?

Detroit Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock Says Hug Your Kids

Detroit Red Wings fan, I’ve gotta love your coach, Mike Babcock. When The Detroit News’ writer Bob Wojnowski interviewed Mike, Bob asked Mike about hockey (duh!) but also about his family and his life.

Bob asked: You mentioned adversity — right before the season, there was the horrible tragedy with your former assistant, Brad McCrimmon. (Coaching a team in Russia, he died in a plane crash.) How hard did that hit you in the gut?

And Mike answered: All those guys had families, and that’s what resonates with me. Those kids don’t have a dad. Beast (McCrimmon) had a love affair with his family like nobody I ever met. It goes to show, you better hug your kids today.

Many women are surprised at how many men really “get” my message of hug your kids. Men tell me, “Of course I love my kids and I love to hug ‘em whenever I can.”

 

Hugs – they are important to moms and dads – and sons and daughters. Don’t go to bed tonight without hugging somone you love. Hugs matter. Ask Mike Babcock of the Detroit Red Wings hockey team.to read the full interview from The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120411/OPINION03/204110326#ixzz1rkT8c9FR

The Value of a Hug – from Global Hug Your Kids Day Founder, Michelle Nichols

I was at a fundraiser luncheon for some local do-gooders last week and I met a divorce attorney. When he heard I was the founder of Global Hug Your Kids Day, his fist question was, “Is that lucrative?” I was taken aback by his directness but then I realized, many people must wonder the same thing. I assured him it was, since some companies hire me to give speeches on work-life issues, and other companies partner with me to joint-market or hire me to consult.

A day later, I thought of a good response to his question that takes a different tack: Think of a person you long to be able to hug but cannot – either because they’re too far away or they’ve died. What would you pay to give them one more great hug? I call that a hug regret. Our message, “Hug your kids,” helps more people not have any hug regrets – and when I figure out how to monetize that, I’ll really have something!

While I’m working this out, please go hug your kids. Thanks!

The Hunger Games movie vs. Hug Your Kids Message

Dr. Susan Harris Rimmer, the Manager of Advocacy and Development Practice at the Australian Council for International Development, wrote an interesting blog post today comparing the recent movie The Hunger Games, to the real plight of children in terrible situations around the world.

While it was hard on my heart to read of how badly innocent children are treated, she lightened my heart just a bit with how she closed her thorough and thoughtful post: So what are we doing to change the game? Watch the film this Easter, and hug your kids tight. Enjoy it. Just remember the reality outside the cinema, and do something, anything, to support the rights of children in developing countries, and here in Australia.

Read her post at: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3935228.html 

Susan, thank you!

The Hunger Games movie vs. Hug Your Kids Message

Dr. Susan Harris Rimmer, the Manager of Advocacy and Development Practice at the Australian Council for International Development, wrote an interesting blog post today comparing the recent movie The Hunger Games, to the real plight of children in terrible situations around the world.

While it was hard on my heart to read of how badly innocent children are treated, she lightened my heart just a bit with how she closed her thorough and thoughtful post: So what are we doing to change the game? Watch the film this Easter, and hug your kids tight. Enjoy it. Just remember the reality outside the cinema, and do something, anything, to support the rights of children in developing countries, and here in Australia.

Read her post at: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3935228.html 

Susan, thank you!

Tamera Mena Reminds Us All of the Value of a Hug While Standing Up

I was just reading an article in Fast Company magazine (April 2012 edition) about Tamera Mena, age 19, who lost the ability to walk due to an accident. Then Ekso Bionics helped her to walk again with one of their robotic exoskeletons and she reflected, “I just wanted to walk again. But once you get up, you realize how meaningful it is to… hug someone while you’re standing up. I had forgotten what that felt like.”

Ya’ see? When I tell folks that hugs are a privilege, Tamara knows what I’m talking about. Hug your kids and loved ones today! Standing up,  or sitting down, just hug ‘em. Hugs matter.

PS Global Hug Your Kids Day is Monday, July 16. Start hugging!

Hug Your Kids Day is for People of All Ages & Stages

I recently had the opportunity to give a workshop to a group of professional women to help them explore and solve their work-life issues. I opened the workshop by asking each attendee to describe the biggest work-life issue they were facing right now. One gal said, “I don’t have any. I just came for the snacks.” Yet by the end, when I asked each woman what she was going to do differently, she said, “I will make a reservation to fly to Chicago to see my grandson’s lacrosse game!” That made my day. Some lucky grandson is going to get a hug from his grandma because of our time together.

Another gals said she was going to “Call my mom in Colorado to plan a trip with her.”

Hugs – they matter! To kids, moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, grandsons, granddaughters, and more!