The Girl Scouts regularly publishes statements and blog posts on its website about topics that might interest girls in their development as future leaders, from the importance of voting to how to recover from natural disasters. The “Today” show started an online poll on Wednesday, asking respondents whether they agreed with the Girl Scouts’ “stance on hugging.” The poll generated more than 3,000 votes by noon and continued through the day. The Girl Scouts pushed back on criticism. The gist, the Girl Scouts added, was that girls need to be given the space to decide when and how they want to show affection. But Sharon Lamb, a professor of counseling and school psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, said in an interview that the Girl Scouts’ advice might be expecting too much of young children to figure out their own boundaries.

Source: New York Times November 22, 2017 21:00 UTC