Just Hold Me

The greatest parenting power is at the tip of your fingers. Simply holding and touching your child has an emotional impact stronger than genetics, according to a new study. Researchers at Columbia University wanted to know whether mothering tendencies are passed on through genes or experience. They found that through touch a mother can positively influence a child’s development of the love hormone—one that a child will later use when she nurtures and holds her own children.

So, even if you think you’ve done nothing else right today as a parent, if you simply hold them, the rest will take care of itself.