Please keep

your

hands off my child.

It’s the sentiment most parents expressed to me when I asked them this question.

“Are you comfortable with teachers touching your child?” Most said things like, “No way.” “Why would they?” “Not in this day and age.” “They’d better not.”

If you’d asked me this question just five weeks ago, I would have agreed. I would have firmly stated that teachers have no business touching my children, for any reason. They are teachers, not parents. Touching them and hugging them is my job

.

Only under the most extreme circumstances – like when they fall over and scrape their knees – would I have been happy for them to touch the kids to, you know, put on a band aid.

However the case of a teacher suspended for hugging a special

needs child has really got me thinking.

Leo Bennett-Cauchon, a special needs teacher of 16 years in California in the US, is on paid leave pending an investigation after he hugged eight-year-old autistic student Giovanni Anaya and allowed the boy to sit on his lap. “He asked to sit on my lap,” Bennett-Cauchon told US Woman’s Day . He then goes on to explain that the boy asked for a kiss, so he gave him one on the cheek.

He told USA Today, “This is a child who needs physical contact.”

Sometimes they just need affection.

The boy's mother Sharon Anaya supports the teacher's actions, explaining that her son needs physical contact upon request or he shuts down. However despite her support, the investigation continues

, with an official from the school district in question saying they are checking for a pattern of "repeated acts of inappropriate behaviour".

I asked a former special needs teacher for her opinion:

But special needs kids aren't the only children who sometimes crave physical affection from teachers at school. My daughter Caterina, just a few short weeks ago, started Kindergarten and physical contact was absolutely crucial for pulling her off me as she hysterically clung to my neck, crying and begging for me to stay. The hysteria lessened eventually however she still needed her teacher to take her hand to lead her away.

And I regularly see the Kindergarten teachers

doing playground duty, holding children's hands. It's beautiful.

Teacher's often hold children's hands.

Special needs kids, very young kids, need it. Then they get older and they don't. The Department of Education (DEC) has a set of guidelines for teachers to follow when it comes to physical contact and they state the following:

I asked a former primary teacher how this works in practice on the playground and in the classroom. She said:

It's a very delicate area, one requiring teachers to exercise sound judgement. How are teachers, parents and students meant to navigate their way through what is a very murky area? Even I - a parent of three children - have a unique set of ideas for when, where, who and how I want my children to be touched by teachers. but I've never communicated it. And my ideas would be different from other parents expectations.

Suspended teacher Leo Bennett-Cauchon is pushing for the investigation to be completed so he can return to teaching.

I'd love to know what you think. Is it ever appropriate for teachers to have physical contact with students? Has an issue ever arisen for you?

Want more? Try:

They can't say it to your face, but this is what your child's teacher really wants to say to you.

"It's every school mum's worst fear. And I'm okay with it."

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