# What affection standards are our children being taught? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 13, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-affection-standards-are-our-children-being-taught/174869 "2003-05-13T04:29:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-affection-standards-are-our-children-being-taught/174869/21 "2003-05-14T12:36:05Z")
For God’s sake. I went to a CATHOLIC high school, full of horny kids who were supposed to be chaste until marriage, and yet there was never any official push to recognize a ban on “Public Displays of Affection.” Whatever happened to principals and teachers making judgment calls? Why can’t you punish kids for “Having sex in the elevator” if the time comes to do that? ---
**Author:** ![athene1765](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@athene1765](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athene1765)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-affection-standards-are-our-children-being-taught/174869/22 "2003-05-14T15:05:35Z")
I’ve heard that younger kids do a heck of a lot more than they did when I was in grade school. Sounds like the cootie epidemic has subsided… As for teachers touching kids…well, I do know that my mother would have flayed alive any teacher whose contact went anywhere beyond a good-job back-pat. She very nearly skinned the guidance counselor at my first school because he had me sit on his lap. She laid into the principal about that, and hard. Utterly off the subject: even in the schools with corporal punishment (and Mom was not against corporal punishment, not at all) I would always get the no-paddling note. In her opinion, if I did anything bad enough to get whacked in school, she was going to be the one administering the punishment – it would mean more to me, and she would be the arbiter of how much I was punished. And if she didn’t think it was a paddle-worthy offense, she was surely not going to allow anyone else to lay a hand on her child. ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-affection-standards-are-our-children-being-taught/174869/23 "2003-05-15T01:29:11Z")
At my school, it seems to be ok to hold hands, hug, and sit in a big group leaning against each other. I haven’t seen anyone making out in the hall, but I do know that two people were suspended for having sex in the teachers’ restroom, which I think was a pretty stupid move. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-affection-standards-are-our-children-being-taught/174869/24 "2003-05-15T02:48:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ferret Herder \* > \*\*When I was in high school, hand-holding and some hugging was fine. The term “PDA” was slapped on necking, groping, that sort of thing, and yes, it could result in some discipline from the school. I don’t have a problem with schools enforcing that. \*\* Same with my school, except sitting on a guy’s lap was also a no-no. It was fine with me, since there were a whole lot of people I was happy not to see making out. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-affection-standards-are-our-children-being-taught/174869/25 "2003-05-15T03:37:14Z")
In my school, I’d see people holding hands / briefly kissing (this one girl even told this guy to kiss her in the middle of the hall) / hugging, and leaning against each other… even sitting on one another’s laps. I wasn’t aware of any sorts of rules against this kind of PDA… but definitely anything above those actions (groping, long kisses, having sex :eek: – or anything else) was definitely frowned upon. F\_X [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-affection-standards-are-our-children-being-taught/174869.md?page=1)