Genius solution: How to hug your embarrassed pre-teens in public.

Easy when they are little.
Takes a touch of genius
to carry it into middle school.

A friend's boys had reached a certain age. When Mom gave them a hug as she dropped them off to school, they were so embarrassed.  Her brilliant and simple solution was to tell them, "I need the hug.  Tell them your Mom needs it".   It worked and they hug her to this day as grown ups.