My dad used to shake my hand, but that was it. When I was very young he used to bounce me on his knee and wrestle me a little, but my mother did not like it...don't know why. She avoided touching me. I did get slapped in the face now and then...but mostly I got the "cold treatment" where nobody would talk to me.

I remember my sister groping me when I was eight and she was eighteen. She would hike up her skirt and dance, then get amorous. I would just try to get away from her. I suspect other family members did sexual things to me, but all I have are clues to that. At first I had almost no memories at all of my life before the final years of high school, but recently they have been surfacing in pieces.

I have problems with physical touching of any kind...it feels like electrical shocks at times. I thought I was just a freak of some kind...at least now that I've remembered some of the abuse I know it is not my fault that I'm this way. If people are affectionate, I suspect that they are doing it to set me up for something.

My father did not allow singing, dancing, or playing music on the radio in "his" house. As best as I can remember, there were no signs of affection shown toward me when I was a child. I think that they believed that it would make me too soft or something.

My mom would yell at me, box my ears, shake the sh!t out of me, hit me with a wooden spoon, all until I either finally cried or (her fave) was so full of rage that I could hardly keep from punching her in the face, then stick her face right up to mine, sneer and dare me to hit her, which I never did, and she knew I wouldn't,

THEN

when I just wanted to go to my room, she would make me sit right up next to her on the couch and she'd put her arm around my shoulder and squeeze me into her uncomfortably tight. And make me stay there all evening.
If dad was on third shift I had to sleep in her bed too.

She used "hugs" as abuse.
Brilliant.
No wonder I don't want anyone to touch me.
Ever.

I had the same type of family, no touching unless it was abusive. I became a very affectionate person, I have no problem being physically affectionate and enjoy it very much.

My parents got divorced when i was 10 ...... prior to age 10 my real father was an affectionate father hugs and all that.... my memories of my mom are sorta a blur in my memory during that time ... age 10 till i left home at 16 i dont remember any affection from anyone but this was when the abuse started when my mother married my step father (abuser) . Maybe there was affection its just its blocked from my memory because thats how i have dealt with the emotional pain from that time period in my life. As an adult my real father tells me he loves me.... gives me a hug when he comes to visit so i would say he was the affectionate one from my childhood.

I have had problems with physical affection for years. No hugging, kissing or other signs of affection in my family. Touch meant punishment, invasion of privacy or abuse. For years I could not stand people touching me on purpose. The accidental bump while in line did not bother me but for someone, even if I knew them, to come up and hug me was terrifying. I owe it to my "adopted" dad and his love for overcoming this. He showed me not all touching is negative, it can be loving (and not in a sexual manner).