It's easy to underestimate the power of little things in building assets for kids -- a smile, an act of kindness, a simple pat on the back.  Here's a story that may help us understand that power.

Jim Conway, a Search Institute trainer talks about a time he went to visit an after school program to learn how they were incorporating developmental assets into their programs and their kid-oriented culture.  He arrived during a rain storm and jogged past a large group of kids just standing outside the facility getting drenched in the rain, most without umbrellas.  Assuming the doors to the facility were locked, he knocked on the glass door and saw the director inside waving for him to come in.  To his surprise the door was unlocked he entered dripping wet.

He went straight up to the Director and explained that since there were all these kids standing in the rain he assumed they couldn't get into the building.  "Nah," replied the Director, "they're just waiting for the car wash."  "Car wash? What's that?" asked Jim.  No sooner than he asked did he notice the entire staff of the program lining up into two parallel lines at the front doors.  As the door opened and the first of the kids entered the building, the staff started chanting "Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" while waving their arms up and down in front of them.  The result was that every child who entered single file walked a gauntlet of adult volunteers brushing their hands up and down the kids shoulders and arms like a big chamois at a car wash.

Jim was astonished that kids would wait outside in the cold pouring rain just to get "whooshed" upon entering.  The Director answered, "That is the power of human touch." "They were welcome to enter the building as soon as they got here" "You see", he continued, "Some of these kids are so starved for attention and physical touch that they would wait outside in a storm until every last one of the staff were in place just to get greeted like this."

How hungry children are for physical touch!  We have grown so concerned about blurring lines between "good touch" and "bad touch" that we often play it too safe.  We hardly ever touch kids that are not our own any more.  The power of handshakes, high fives, mussing hair, pats on the back, and yes, even hugs is enormous.  Failing to touch kids only isolates them.  Here the staff decided that it was safer for them to do this type of touch as a group so that everyone was present and could see that there was nothing inappropriate about the way these kids were touched.