I know I’m a Beckham family apologist but I honestly cannot see the other side of this issue. Truth be told, the outrage over a parent kissing their child has kind of ticked me off. David Beckham, who has four kids, all of whom he is openly affectionate with be it verbally or physically, posted this picture to Instagram last month with five-year-old daughter Harper.
To me, this is a darling pic of a dad and his child. But, according to David, people took the opportunity to attack him for it. The issue was that he chose to kiss his daughter on the lips. During a Facebook Live interview with TV host Woody Milintachinda while in Bangkok last week, Woody asked David if he still kisses and hugs his kids. David said, without reservation, that he does and then he mentioned that he had received flack for the Instagram posted above:
“I got actually criticized for kissing my daughter on the lips the other day. I kiss all my kids on the lips. Brooklyn, maybe not. Brooklyn’s 18, he might find that a little bit strange. But I’m very affectionate with the kids. I think, it was how I was brought up and Victoria, and it’s how we are with our children. We want to show our kids love. And we protect them, look after them, support them, and, you know, we’re very affectionate with them.”
Victoria was criticized for this exact thing last summer when she posted this:
Hilary Duff also got flack for this picture, to which she had a great response:
I’ll be upfront, I kiss my kids on the lips. And I apologize if it further grosses everyone out, but I still kiss my own parents on the lips as well as a few random friends, albeit outside my kids and husband it’s purely for greeting and exiting. I’m not a huge fan of Parenting Police to begin with but this is just beyond me. Christ, showing my children affection is one of the few things I do right as a mom.
Speaking of the Beckham children, Woody asked David about their passions. As we know, the Beckham children all seem to have been fast-tracked for careers that they may or may not be prepared for. Initially, it looked like all of them were headed to Hollywood. This may not be the case. Whereas Brooklyn has his photography and Cruz does seem invested in singing, Romeo, the model, is developing a passion for tennis. And Harper just told her father she thinks she wants to pursue – wait for it – football! How amazing would it be if Harper was the football legacy in the Beckham clan? Somebody must be making up the Bend It Like Beckham memes as we speak. And after she kicks in the winning goal in the Champions League Final, I hope Harper runs over and plants one right on both her parents’ lips.
Photo credit: WENN Photos, Facebook, Instagram and Getty Images
Love it
Kisses on lips between parents and kids are not in my culture but I’m not shocked by it. However, I think it’s kind of weird to take pictures of it. It looks like lengthy kisses which grosses me out a little. I dont get the need to put This in your social media.
It’s an expression of affection, why is it weird social media or not?
It only looks “weird” to those of us who didn’t grow up kissing our parents on the lips.
For many people, these pics look like a completely normal/natural expression of love between parent and child.
Well, I have grown up with kissing my parents and my father insists on still doing it despite my advanced age of 40. I could live without it but it’s his way of showing affection and it’s kinda cute and I don’t have the guts to break his heart. Despite being used to it, it looks weird to me in the pictures. I cannot tell you why and I am aware that it probably doesn’t make any sense.
I grew up with lip kissers, and I stopped that when I hit teenage years.
it felt weird (to me) but my brothers still cool with it, and my parents obviously do cheek kisses for me now.
Yeah, I’m with you. A quick peck. Not a long kiss long enough to take pictures of
People need to find a life and stop watching Criminal Minds.
LOL
That was a good one.
I would peck my dad on the lips as a little girl. I thought it was cute. I still kiss my mom on the cheek as an adult, though that’s not weird. I mean I kiss my dogs all the time lol
I do the same for mama, papa and my brother. I do not get the kissing on the cheeks (by strangers and friends alike) that is popular in pretty much every european country except for germany. Eeewww.
To each his own.
I grew up with a French mother so kissing parents on the lips was not a thing. But we give great hugs and cheek-kisses in my family 🙂
It’s too bad that something as simple and harmless as parents kissing their kids on the lips has to generate controversy. Sigh.
I definitely understand not wanting to kiss on the lips (or anywhere else, for that matter). I’m just baffled by the outrage of seeing someone else do it. Like, I don’t hug – or I try to avoid it at all costs – but I don’t have any problem with someone else hugging. Especially when it’s between family members, you know?
If anyone in my family didn’t hug or kiss someone, they’d think they were mad at them, lol!
I never understood the vitriol jolie recieved for kissing her brother on the lips and I don’t get the disgust Duff and Beckham received for kissing their kids on the lips.
Vice President Joe Biden kisses all of his adult children on the lips. One of the most endearing pictures was when it was announced that Obama chose him as his Vice President running mate and he was video taped kissing all of his family members from his mother to his brother and all the adult kids on the lips. Loved it.
I haven’t seen it but it does sound really cute.
I think the Jolie thing was that it was followed by the “I am so in love with my brother right now” statement and her general image at the time. But again, that WAS her image at the time – “I’m going to be just as weird and challenging as I want to be, so go ahead and think i might be sleeping with my brother.”
OMG I can’t handle Puritans. Kiss away!
I know, right? Don’t we have bigger fish to fry?!
i kiss my whole family on the lips (mother in law too – she’s a real face sucker). i think physical affection is important and affirming…particularly when you have a less verbal parent. for instance – my dad communicates more through a hug than he will say “i love you” or “i miss you”. his hugs vary like a baby’s cries.
the more important thing is to teach children to be in charge of their own bodies to know they can accept physical affection as they want it and to reject it when they don’t. if the beckham kids want to be kissed by their parents – they should be and often.
i think it is scary that these people are conflating affection and abuse. sexual abuse is NOT kissing…
Exactly.
I’m a cheek kisser, not a lip kisser, but I don’t care what anyone else does. My dear Brazilian friend kisses her grown sons on the lips, it’s just what they do.
My almost 6 year old kisses me on the lips constantly. I got really self-conscious about it after the Hilary Duff thing and I have to remind myself not to give a shit. Someday he will be a big boy and won’t want to!!
Also, the Beckhams at the fashion show with Anna Wintour picture will never not make me saw AWWWWW.
That’s lovely. You are so lucky. Enjoy it 😊
My 12 year daughter is severely disabled and I was afraid she would never be able to express love and affection. One day a few years I asked her to give mommy a kiss and she kissed me right on the mouth! I cried from happiness! Before I had kids I did think it was weird for a parent to kiss their children on the lips but that all changed the moment my daughter kissed me to show me love. I will never judge another parent for this. My daughter kisses everyone else on the cheek but she can kiss me on this lips anytime she wants too.
Love this story, thanks for it!
Somebody put those damn onions away! *walks off to collect herself*
I’M NOT CRYING YOU’RE CRYING
DAMN THESE ALLERGIES
Thank you so much! It truly is the best feeling in the world and I am so grateful for every single kiss from my sweet girl. 🙂
This is so beautiful…
Ok, now you’ve done it, I’m crying.
Such a tender, sweet story that definitely puts life into perspective.
I had a sh!t afternoon with my wee son today and yelled at him, and subsequently felt terrible. He loves to give me (and Daddy, and his grandparents and aunt) kisses on the lips, and I wouldn’t for a moment think it weird and on an afternoon like today his kisses goodnight made me cry… like your beautiful story. Thanks for sharing.
When I was 16 I saw one of my girl friends kiss her mother on the lips and thought it was the sweetest thing ever, my mother was in and out of my life and rarely affectionate when she was around, so now I kiss my daughter on the lips and don’t plan on stopping unless she wants to. I think it’s sweet and love to see parents doing this, but to each their own I suppose! Not everyone is comfortable with it.
I grew up kissing my mom (didn’t have a dad) and aunts and uncles and close family friends on the lips. And still do it. Hilary Duff worded it perfectly! In Italy it’s customary to do the cheek thing but if a long period has gone since we’ve last seen each other, lip
kissing is not unusual!!!!
I kiss my parents, siblings, children, grandkids, aunts, uncles, cousins…most of them on the lips. It’s a sign of love and affection. Just like hugging. Everyone gets a hug hello and goodbye, good friends even get a quick peck on the cheek with their hug. So what, it doesn’t mean that anything inappropriate is going on. What I can’t understand is people getting judgy and upset over a picture of a parent kissing their child, yet don’t blink an eye at a half-dressed girl in an ad trying to sell something!
I’m Asian and I never kissed my parents on the lips, only on the cheek. When I had a baby girl I started giving her little pecks on the lips and now it’s just the way we kiss each other. My husband tries to dodge her lip kisses but he’ll gladly kiss her on the cheek. Now if I can only explain that lip kisses are for parents and to not kiss others like that… She’s 2 so I’ll see how I can explain it to her.
My best friends daughter gives me lip kisses. She is almost three and we are very close, when asked who belongs to her family she names me as well.
I didn’t grow up in a lip kissing family, and don’t kiss my kids on the lips ( kids are petri dishes with legs ), but I think it is ridiculous that any parent who does gets any kind of criticism. I have seen many parents do this because it is often the case that kids initiate it when they are nine- months- old- plus sloppy, spitty, open mouth kissers, and it just continues as they age and learn to purse their lips (mine did this as little ones, too, we just transitioned naturally to cheeks). It really isn’t a big deal.
My Dad always kissed up on the lips when we were kids but stopped somewhere along the line I don’t remember when. My husband kisses his brother!!!! I was shocked when i first saw that hahaha. But again, it’s different cultures. I do sometimes dodge my own kids mouth kisses purely because lots of time there is a lot of DROOL hahahahahaha.
Anyway, such a dumb thing for people to get worked up about. I read an article recently and apparently some people were upset about UNDER FIVE year old girls wearing only bathing suit bottoms with no shirt to the local splash park. That made me so angry!!! Like they look the exact same you weirdos!!!
Agree 😀
I come from a family of mouth-kissers. I get why it weirds some people out if they don’t grow up in a similar environment but I don’t understand the vitriol towards it. If kissing for you happens purely in the context of a romantic encounter, the idea of kissing your family probably does gross you out. But as someone who kisses on the mouth in both romantic and familial settings, they feel very different for me. It’s like nudity. In America we very much associate nudity with sexuality, to the point where we sometimes shame mothers who are breastfeeding their child. But if you go to some European countries, you’ll probably find that there is nudity in a sexual context and nudity in a regular context and they are viewed as two separate things.
I don’t see anything wrong with it. It never looks like he wants to kiss his wife when he’s with her, so he may as well show affection to the kids.
I’m from a lip kissing family and never thought a thing about it. I kiss my son on the lips, initially my husband said it was weird but he’s a lip kisser with our kiddo now too. I fail to see the big deal.
I like how loving and affectionate he is with his kids. People are weird. He more than most celeb men really shows his kids that he loves them publicly and i think that’s beautiful.