A short video showing New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady kissing his son on the lips when he was 11 years old has reignited a heated discussion regarding the age at which parents should stop kissing their children, if they should stop at all.
There is a scene in the Facebook documentary series “Tom vs. Time” in which Brady’s massage is rudely interrupted by his little kid Jack. The series is named “Tom vs. Time.” Jack pokes his head in and inquires about the possibility of checking his fantasy team. “What do I get? “, Tom retorts, at which time his son leans in and gives him a peck on the cheek before continuing.
Brady’s son then turns around to give his father a longer kiss on the lips, all while the massage therapist working on Tom says, “You know Jack, everything comes at a cost, bud.” However, as Jack turns to leave the room, Tom says: “That was like a peck.” Brady’s son then turns around to give his father a longer kiss on the lips.
The acts of the great player who is headed to the Super Bowl have shed light on a topic that has experts as well as individuals on social media in different camps.
Back in 2010, child and educational psychologist Dr. Charlotte Reznick threw the first grenade into this particularly heated argument. Her comments have since been cited as the spark that ignited the fire.
When you start kissing your children on the lips, how do you know when to stop? During the course of the conversation, she commented on how confused everything became. “When a youngster reaches the ages of four, five, or six, and their sexual awareness begins to develop, a kiss on the lips can be arousing for them.
Even if the thought never occurs to a toddler, the situation is nonetheless extremely perplexing! What does it imply when I, a child girl or boy, kiss my parent on the mouth? If mother kisses daddy on the mouth and vice versa, what does it mean when daddy kisses mommy?
The comments are so powerful that they keep resurfacing and going viral online every few months, prompting responses from other experts who deal with childhood issues.
In 2015, Dr Fiona Martin of the Sydney Child Psychology Centre stated that the advice could cause parents unnecessary confusion, and that anything that promotes “emotional connectivity” is a good thing. The vast majority of experts appear to support Dr. Martin.
It’s a quagmire that several celebrities have encountered in the past, and their responses have generally been defiant.
After being chastised online for kissing his 5-year-old daughter Harper on the lips last year, footballer David Beckham responded, saying, “I got actually chastised for kissing my daughter on the lips the other day; I kiss all my kids on the lips.”
When Hilary Duff was chastised for kissing her four-year-old son Luca on the lips, she responded, “For anyone commenting that a kiss on the lips with my four-year-old is ‘inappropriate,’ go ahead and click a quick unfollow with your warped minds and judgment.”
Brady’s actions elicited a wide range of reactions on social media, with many revealing that the display of affection made them uncomfortable.
“As someone who comes from One Of Those Kissing Families, I really wanted to be able to defend Tom Brady here, but… the kiss is pretty weird,” one person wrote.
“Being affectionate toward your children isn’t weird, nor is kissing them,” said another. What’s strange is Tom Brady calling his son back for another five-second kiss because the first one was “just a peck.”
However, Brady was seen kissing his father on the lips after last year’s Super Bowl victory, implying that the Brady family is simply more affectionate than most.