Childcare workers are faced with several dilemmas when planning the use of physical contact: how to know what sort of touching to use and when, how to use touch in a planned way but without losing spontaneity, and how to lessen the risk of touching without misinterpretation. There is a wealth of research demonstrating that children need physical contact for their physiological and psychological development. Because young children receive most of their physical contact from parental figures, there is a duty on those in loco parentis to provide this contact. Childcare workers should explore ways to deal with these problems in terms of working with individuals and groups of children and within the agency context. 33 references