David Beckham has been criticised for posting an Instagram photo where he’s kissing his five-year-old daughter, Harper, square on the lips.
Previously, his wife, Victoria, was criticised for doing the exact same thing. However, while some people said that the kissing was “inappropriate” and “disgusting”, others were supportive. Beckham said: “I’m very affectionate with the kids. It’s how I was brought up. And Victoria.”
What a tragic sign of the times if parents can’t kiss their child on the lips. It’s just parental love – it’s not inappropriate, controversial or worrying. It doesn’t have “big creep alert” written all over it, like, say, President Trump’s comments about his daughter, Ivanka, being hot. His remarks about Ivanka revealed, depressingly, that this is how he gauges women – and how the ultimate compliment, even to his own daughter, is to say that she’s sexually attractive.
By contrast, the Beckhams’ photos show straightforward artless pecks, leastways as artless as the Beckhams ever get. They’re also about capturing an all too fleeting moment in time, because, as many parents know, there’s a strict window for this kind of thing.
Beckham made the point that their oldest son, Brooklyn, 18, might find it “weird” to be kissed on the lips these days. As children turn into teenagers, there’s generally a period where parents are deemed to be somewhere between “uncool” and “unclean” and you’re lucky to get any kind of contact at all. Just getting your children to stand next to you for a photo sometimes results in a full-on wrestling bout.
The Beckhams should enjoy the family kisses while they last. One day, they’ll stop and it will be because the kids called time.
