You know it's going to be a good day when you wake up in the morning, turn on the Today show and see a nice pithy nugget of investigative journalism about what the children these days are doing. And this story is a big one—so big the Today Show and the New York Times came together to crack it, sharing resources, infiltrating high schools, and spending probably months on research alone. I'm talking, of course, about teenage hugging. Hugs! What will these kids think of next? Walking? Probably walking.
Obviously kids should never ever touch each other, even in a casual, platonic manner, without talking about it with their parents or teachers first. That's a given. But, seriously, Today Show? If you're gonna start a parental panic about hugging, please think of the consequences. I mean, what is Law & Order: SVU supposed to do with this crap? Sexting makes a good ripped-from-the-headlines plot. Rainbow parties make for a good ripped-from-the-headlines plot. But the teen scourge of hugging? That's gonna be a really dull episode.