David Beckham has sparked a debate about the appropriate level of affection for parents to show their children after he shared a photo of him kissing his daughter on the lips.
The Instagram post shows the former footballer and father of four kissing his five-year-old daughter Harper during a trip believed to be to Tanzania. The caption reads “kiss for daddy” beside a heart emoji.
The photo was liked by almost 2 million Instagram users. But it sparked an intense debate about whether parents should kiss their children on the lips.
“David, to kiss lips of your daughter, that’s wrong,” wrote one user.
“To be honest, kissing your daughter on the lips is a little weird,” said another.
A post shared by David Beckham (@davidbeckham) on Jun 1, 2017 at 10:55am PDT
But users were also keen to defend Beckham.
“A father having a bond with his child is nothing less than beautiful,” a user said.
“There’s something very sick that people see anything other than pure and beautiful love between a parent and child kissing on the lips; what a sad world we live in,” another user argued.
The criticism comes after his wife and fashion designer Victoria Beckham caused a similar debate after sharing a photo of herself kissing Harper on the lips last year, on her fifth birthday.
“Happy birthday baby girl,” wrote the 42-year-old in the caption. “We all love you so much X @davidbeckham @brooklynbeckham kisses from mummy X” the caption to the photo said.