Woah. Even very young children?
Edit: I sorta thought the “kissing kids goodnight” thing was pretty universal. Guess I’m wrong in that.
I wonder how many people that think it’s oogy to kiss their kids on the lips have no problem walking around naked in front of them, or sleeping in the same bed with them, which is my personal “ew” thing.
Oh I do the naked/sleeping with 'em thing too. Every time. And my son has no hang ups about it, nor about his body, nor about nudity, nor about kissing - and I reckon that’s all good stuff. And if you’ve never had the pleasure of your kid snuggling up to you in bed, well, I’m sorry, but you’re missing out, and so are they.
Nah, I’m good, thanks. Maybe my 19 year-old secretly harbors the wish to snuggle with me in bed, but I doubt it.
But did s/he at 5, or 6, or 7? My experience says oh yes, and I know lotsa parents who have heard the same. Still, I know that with families YMMV, so I try not to judge.
Well, I’m a girl-type, and I still kiss my 10YO daughter on the lips sometimes. My father (who died six years ago) kissed us all on the lips, even after we were adults. It’s just the way he did it, there was nothing creepy or sexual about it. Our mom really hardly ever kissed us, we kissed her, always on the nose (don’t know why, just the way it was).
Seems like the woman who wrote the letter has issues. . .
My upbringing left me with the feeling that kisses on the cheek were familial, kisses on the lips were romantic. I never knew there were any parents who kissed their kids on the lips until a couple of years ago. (It freaked me the hell out when my little cousins tried to kiss me on the lips the first time we met.) So I get that it’s the norm for some families, but it’s squicky to me.
I’m not allowed to leave the house without giving my 4 y o daughter a peck on the lips. Also at bedtime, and I am not the slightest bit concerned about the situation.
I kiss my son on the lips all the time. Of course, he’s only 3, and by the time he’s 13 I’ll probably kiss him on the cheek instead. Can’t imagine anyone making a fuss over it.
I’m Italian, so until I was in my 20s, I had no idea this wasn’t how everybody did it.
My uncle is 60 and he still kisses his 85 year old mother on the lips. That’s just how things are. My girlfriend (eventually wife) is OK with the idea now. But man was she weirded out the first time my grandma kissed her smack on the lips when it was time to leave some family function.
Huh?
I’ve told this before, but I never got kissed on the lips by my parents. Hell, I can probably count on one hand the amount of kisses I got from my family at all. Not that we weren’t affectionate, fullbody hugs were the norm, and lots of cuddling (though rarely in bed), but lip kisses were just not done.
I remember being over my friend’s house, though, and the mom kissed all of her kids on the lips, and then affectionately kissed me on the lips, too. I know she was just trying to make sure I didn’t feel left out - and you know what? It worked. I always remember it as a gesture of unconditional and spontaneous love.
Needless to say, it’s not something that bothers me too much, though I may be a little embarrassed if you do it in front of me. But only because it is so unfamiliar to me, though.
I do think that as soon as the kid says “No” you should stop doing it. Seen too much of that!
FFS = for fuck’s sake.
Sighhhh… Thanks. Thinking way too hard…
I kiss my 2yo niece’s entire face, usually while saying omnomnomnom (she cracks up and loves it), so I’m a real sicko.
What the fuck? Of course I kiss my daughter (5) on the lips. I’m late 30s and I kiss my mother on the lips. I kiss friends like that too. Hastur’s name, some people need to get over themselves.
It’s nothing to get upset about. Just seems to be cultural/regional differences.
39 years old here. I still kiss both my parents on the lips as well as both my children: my 20 year old son and 11 year old daughter. There are no hangups wrt affection in our household. I feel sympathy for people who don’t get unmitigated affection from their families. We also cuddle when the mood arises. I would have said to the crazy woman in the OP’s link the exact same thing: I’ll do it 'til the day I die.
Nomming is good. 
I was never kissed on the lips by family when I was growing up in the 70s, but when my daughter and nephews were born, they were kissed on the lips as babies and it just kept on. I think part of it for me is that I see my daughter so rarely, once a year at most, that she’s never reached the “Ew, get away Mom” stage with me that most teenage girls go through. And my one nephew is such a lovey doll that he was still kissing us on the lips at age 9, the last time I saw him before the teen years. I imagine most kids would leave it behind out of self consciousness once they hit puberty, but I’ve seen people kiss their parents/kids on the lips as adults too, so YMMV. Not having grown up with it, it was a little weird for me at first once they were past the baby stage.
Speaking of cultural and regional differences, I’ve been kissed on the cheek in greeting and parting more since I moved to Scotland in February than I ever had before in my entire life. It seems to be fairly common, especially among the continental Europeans I’ve met so far. In the extended family it’s the women who do it (to me), in our circle of acquaintance it’s the men. Go figure.