It was meant to be an innocent photograph of a sweet moment between mother and daughter.
But Victoria Beckham’s picture of herself kissing five-year-old Harper on the lips instead led to a furious parenting debate.
Dozens of parents accused the fashion designer of sexualising her daughter, and questioned whether kissing children on the lips is ever appropriate.
Mother-of-four Mrs Beckham, 42, shared the photo on Instagram on Sunday showing her and Harper in a swimming pool wearing matching sunglasses. The caption read: ‘Happy Birthday baby girl. We all love you so much, kisses from mummy.’
One social media user wrote: ‘It is strange to kiss your parents on the lips. Stop saying to other people it isn’t if they think it is, because guess what, they aren’t the only one.’ Another said: ‘Kids get cold sores from their parents kissing them on the mouth.’
However, many others were quick to defend the star, even posting pictures of themselves kissing their own children on the lips to prove that it is ‘normal behaviour for a normal family’. Nicola O’Connell wrote: ‘Nothing wrong with showing your child you love them. I don’t care what people think. Victoria clearly loves her children, just like I love my daughter. Love is love and I’ll always kiss my child.’
Mother Emma Hambleton posted a photo of herself kissing daughter Hope on the lips, while another parent, Kathryn Evans, did the same with her daughter Lexi.
The issue also sparked a fierce debate on parenting website Mumsnet, where one user wrote: ‘I think it is weird. Not seen anyone do this. Perhaps it is a new thing that the young do? Do you regularly sleep in the same bed as them as well?’
Another added: ‘I find mothers kissing children on the lips very weird too but I think I’m in the minority on that one?’ Other commenters said they found what Mrs Beckham had done ‘totally normal’.
Last year, child psychologist Dr Charlotte Reznick caused controversy after suggesting it was wrong for a parent to kiss a child on the lips at any age. She said: ‘If you start kissing your kids on the lips, when do you stop? As a child gets to four or five or six and their sexual awareness develops, the kiss on the lips can be stimulating to them. Children thrive on being touched on their forehead, cheeks or hands. The lips are different.’
However, parenting expert Sue Atkins said: ‘While I wouldn’t kiss my children like [that] I think it’s really a case of everybody does their own thing.
A photo posted by Victoria Beckham (@victoriabeckham) on Jul 10, 2016 at 1:27am PDT
‘I think you have to be guided by?...?if your children feel uncomfortable, not to push them into something that they are not comfortable with and listen to them.’ Baby expert Clare Byam-Cook added: ‘I can’t believe that a five-year-old girl would view anything sexual in a mum kissing her.
‘If it had been a boy and it was one of her sons then I’d agree, you could start saying “is that appropriate” but I can’t believe a four or five-year-old would react in that way.’
Daily Mail