Abstract
This study investigates the impact of a kindergarten teacher’s physical contact on kindergarten children in terms of their development of relationships with others. For one year we observed an experienced kindergarten teacher who vigorously adopts physical contact with her children as a means of caring for them. The kindergarten teacher receptively hugged children who were reluctant to associate with peers because of anxiety from their first entrance into the kindergarten environment. This receptive hug built up trustful relationships between the teacher and the anxious children, enabling them to regard the teacher as a safety base from which to associate actively with peers. It was found that children, through experience and observation, learned the teacher’s physical contact as models of a friendly message, and utilized them in the interaction with peers.
