I’m American, born and raised. Never lived anywhere else. One of my very close friends was born and raised in Scotland, and every single time I see her, she does the cheek-kiss thing. I just figure it’s cultural, and go with it.
I also have a number of friends that were born and raised in Iran, but live here now. They don’t do the cheek-kiss so much as the air-cheek-kiss. Again, I just go with the flow.
I don’t really kiss anyone on the lips except my hubby (now that my father’s dead), because when it comes to my kids, I take their cue on the subject. They don’t seem all that keen on it. In fact, my youngest daughter (10YO), while she likes hugging/snuggling/cuddling, doesn’t really seem into kissing at all. I’ll kiss her on the head when I tuck her into bed. Otherwise, all kisses are initiated by her, and that’s not frequent.
I only ever hug my parents. I never kiss either of them. Yet, I kiss my aunt on the lips. I didn’t really think about it until someone snapped a picture of it and a co-worker saw the picture and asked “who’s the old chick you’re making out with in that picture?”
One that weirds me out, however, is my wife’s father. He is Mexican and insists on trying to kiss everyone on the cheek, which seems very strange to me, but I gather it’s a cultural thing.
When I was a little girl and my dad would go away on business (which he did often) I’d ask him how many days he was going to be gone and give him that many kisses on the lips, so he’d have one for each day. And here I was thinking back mistily thinking that was sweet.
Seriously, did some of you people have absolutely terrifying homes that you think it’s inappropriate and disturbing to kiss a child?
I’m an Italian American so yes of course. I kiss business partners and familiar clients on the cheek just to make them uncomfortable. That’s just a greeting to me, but there’s nothing better than kissing some uptight WASP to greet them.
I’ve met very few white families that do kissing on the cheek, much less on the lips. Don’t mean to offend, that’s just my observation.
I always used to kiss my parents on the mouth when I was a kid, and my grandparents, aunts and uncles too. (We’re a pretty close family). Nothing sexual about it. Nowadays it’s usually on the cheek, but Jesus people.
As my mother would say, people who DO see something sexual in it have dirty minds.
Our whole family kiss on the lips, including my 14 year old son and his father! They think nothing of it and I’m certainly not going to be the one to tell them to knock it off. That said, I don’t kiss him on the lips any more, and our younger son isn’t that kissy so I don’t do it so much with him. BUT he loves having his earlobes sucked and will come and ask me to do that, so there’s an evil kink right there!
Our husband/Dad lives and works away from home, and none of us would feel right if we didn’t welcome him back and send him off properly, and that includes a kiss and a wish for a safe drive back to work.
My brother is 44 and still kisses our Dad too. So there!
Edited to add - it’s my SON I don’t kiss on the lips any more. Hub still gets plenty!!
I kiss all three of my kids on the lips. #1 daughter is 24; #2 daughter is 16; #1 son is 14.
My husband has switched to kissing on the girls on the cheeks and fist-bumping with the boy.
But we still all cuddle up and hug and hold hands when we’re watching a movie or the like.
I kissed my parents on the lips all the time when I was younger and never thought anything of it; it was just how my family is. The actual action is completely different from a romantic kiss; it’s a peck that lands on the lips instead of the cheek.
I am from a non lip kissing the kids family. There are plenty of kisses, hugs, and snuggling going around, but I never thought to plant one on my kid’s kisser! Maybe it has something to do with looking someone in the eyes before you kiss them on the lips- it just seems like a romantic thing from my experiences and not a way I express familial affection.
Oddly enough, I have no problem wrestling with my 3 year old son on our bed, pinning him down, lifting up his shirt and then putting my mouth on his stomach or back and blowing so that it make that big farting noise. I guess it is just what you are used to. I would never hold anything against the lip kissers, it just aint my thing.
You know what, I didn’t think about other relatives. My grandmothers did it. I just saw it as an old person thing.
And, of course, I don’t see anything wrong with it, although I may look at you funny for a second if both kisser and kissee are adults or close. Especially the one time with the guy who was trying to look younger kissing the girl who was trying to look older. But I’m fully willing to believe it was just an odd squick factor from me.
This was normal in my family, and as usual faded off around puberty. I can understand how it might be strange if you are not used to it (and indeed, I am a more reserved person and don’t know if I’d kiss my own kids) but I don’t see anything wrong with it.
Lust4Life I think you should take your own advice. Do you have kids? do you understand the overwhelming love and affection a parent feels, that has nothing to do with sex?
My 14 month old daughter will come over and cuddle or hugs us, often kissing us on the lips, cheeks or sucking our noses.
We kiss her on the lips, she comes into our bed some mornings where we cuddle and she sometimes breastfeeds.
All normal and healthy stuff IMO.
I kiss my parents and sisters on the lips and cheeks, and I’ll cuddle on the sofa with my sisters to watch a movie. My in-laws and close friends get pecks on the cheeks and hugs, and I don’t really like touching strangers, so they’ll get a handshake.
I must say I’m really surprised by the general trend of answers here. I walk naked around my kids all the time, and they can come sleep between me and my wife whenever they like, but I wouldn’t think of kissing them on the lips for any reason, ever. To me, lips touching means sexual interest, plain and simple. A kiss on the cheek? Totally OK. Once lips meet, a huge line is crossed. Family members kissing each other on the mouth is a totally alien concept to me. Ignorance fought!
