There has been so much uproar in the parenting community lately caused by something so simple and harmless (well, to me anyways): David Beckham kissing his 5-year-old daughter Harper on the lips. What was meant to be a sweet moment where he was showing his child affection caused quite a stir and the Internet has had so many opinions. Yes, something so adorable has gotten so much backlash that even Today, Huffington Post and BravoTV have all reported on it. Here is the original Instagram picture, so you can check it out for yourself and form your thoughts, but I want to share mine.
Well, David Beckham has joined the ranks of celebs that are publicly shamed for something stupid and this silly thing is a big thing to me, so I want to be grouped with the parents coming to his defense. I think my above picture says it all: I will be kissing my babies on the lips until the day I die because that’s my right as a parent and there is nothing wrong with it.
The comments on his picture got out of control though, one person even writing, “You people are sick for defending this. The truth will come out… this may have been acceptable in the 1990s but times have changed and we won’t stand for it any longer. Children’s innocence must be preserved.”
Comments like that honestly leave me with rage inside. Children need affection and it’s an important part of your relationship with your kids. Both of our children (yes, I know Branden’s not pictured, he was in school when I took these), pull both my husband and I towards them and kiss us on the lips all the time and we do the same to them. It’s one of the many, powerful ways that we show them love.
But here we are in the year 2017 and we need to defend ourselves to people for kissing our children on the lips? I won’t stand for it. How about we talk about parents who don’t show their children affection, because that’s where the real problem stands. Children need to feel loved and wanted, just like we all do, and this is one way to show that as a parent.
Kissing on the lips isn’t just reserved for intimacy, especially since we’re not discussing french kissing here – which would be a completely different conversation. It’s not inappropriate or gross, it’s simply affection, something we should be praised for making sure our children receive, not frowned upon.
I will always kiss my children on the lips because I love them. I love them so much that it hurts and these kisses bond us and are special moments that connect us. I can’t wrap my head around a person who would tell another parent that that’s wrong.
But everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course, that’s what makes the world go round. To me, this is just one way that I communicate to my children that I love them and there will never be anything wrong with that in my eyes.
What do you think? Are you lip kissers in your home?
Fashionably Yours,
Allison
“But here we are in the year 2017 and we need to defend ourselves to people for kissing our children on the lips? I won’t stand for it.” Your post is completely defending it. lol That part just made me laugh. We don’t kiss on the lips but I don’t think it’s horrible either. To each their own.
It doesn’t seem like you understood the point of the post. The fact that people make it an issue is the problem, and that’s what she won’t stand for. The fact that people are thinking that there is something sinister about a grown-up kissing their child on the lips, and sexualizing something that is pure and truly innocent is the issue.
There’s nothing to defend, nothing to explain. It also boggles my mind that somehow spanking and physical discipline rarely come up as issues in pop culture, but kissing a child innocently on the lips does. But I’m sure that’s a post for another time…