I’m in a second marriage, and my husband and I got custody of his daughter 18 months ago. Since then, my own daughter started to retreat to her room. One day she actually pulled back when I went to hug her, which broke my heart. She’s 15, so I assumed it was due to her age. But after recently hearing you talk about the importance of hugs and that 12 a day was the optimal number, I realized I wasn’t giving enough of them. I sat both girls down at the dining room table and explained I would be hugging them more. They looked at each other and giggled, but right then and there we counted out twelve hugs a piece!