In the wake of the raft of sexual harassment claims, the Girl Scouts of the USA is telling parents not to force their daughters to give relatives hugs or kisses, and to offer instead the alternative of less personal kinds of touching.
The Girl Scouts explained in a public service announcement on their official site that "telling your child that she owes someone a hug either just because she hasn’t seen this person in a while or because they gave her a gift can set the stage for her questioning whether she 'owes' another person any type of physical affection when they’ve bought her dinner or done something else seemingly nice for her later in life."
"Given our expertise in healthy relationship development for girls, and in light of recent news stories about sexual harassment, we are proud to provide girls’ parents and caregivers with age-appropriate guidance to use when discussing this sensitive matter and other challenging topics, should they wish to do so. Obviously, our advice will not apply in all situations, and we recognize that parents and caregivers are in the best position to judge which conversations they should have with their girls."