6 year olds and parent kisses

[Anonymous]

Cryptic subject? Sorry. I’m nervous about the trolls. My 6 year old daughter has recently started asking to kiss both her dad and me on the lips at bedtime. She requests a quick peck. This is not the cheek parent/child kisses that I was raised with, but it is truly a quick peck. My husband says absolutely not, but I’ve been caving because I’m no longer convinced it is an issue. I see photos of other people kissing that way— maybe I’m just uptight. I realize there is some risk of germ transmission. Have your kids asked for this?

[Anonymous]

My son has tried it but we have said no, that we kiss on the check or forehead but in the lips.

[Anonymous]

My son did when he was little but stopped. I don't have an issue with it between parent and child.

[Anonymous]

My 1O year old son still kisses me on the lips. I don’t understand the big deal.

[Anonymous]

You worry about germs? Haha. My 6 year old still crawls into bed with me, breathes on me, drinks from my cups. I'm not worried about a peck on the lips.

[Anonymous]

My 6yo no but my 4yo requests this. I give her a quick peck.

[Anonymous]

My DD requested this a few times but we said no. We give lots of kisses in the cheek, forehead but not the lips. DH and I both have said no independently. Not sure why I think this, it’s just weird to me. Probably bc I never did it growing up.

[Anonymous]

I think lips kissing between parent/child is fine, and say no is fine. But I think that if one party is uncomfortable, and it sounds like you are, then it's better to say no. Your kid will read your discomfort, and I wouldn't want even a hint of "we let people do things to us when we're comfortable", so I'd say "no thank you, please kiss me . . . " and describe what works.

[Anonymous]

Does your kid have herpes? Why wouldn’t you kiss them? How is this a big deal?

[Anonymous]

Both DH and I grew up in families where we kissed our parents on the lips as kids. Now both of our kids do it to us, including our 6yo. NBD. It’ll stop as our kids get older just like DH and I eventually stopped with our own parents. I can’t recall what age I was when I stopped - probably late elementary.

[Anonymous]

This is no big deal. I remember kissing my mom and grandma on the lips, quick peck, probably to adulthood. That was normal in our family. I sometimes do with my five year old but she mostly aims to beside her mouth or her cheek so I usually do that.

[Anonymous]

I kiss my 5yo and 8 yo kids on the lips (and cheeks, And forehead, and top of the head). All quick pecks.

[Anonymous]

Not a big deal but if you don’t like it, don’t do it.

[Anonymous]

Not a big deal--I did this sometimes as a kid, too. If you don't want to, it's fine, just say that you'd prefer it if she kissed you on the cheek, but it's fine either way.

[Anonymous]

Yes I grew up giving my mom a quick peck on the mouth. I can't remember when we stopped though. But I will say, my kids are sick so much I often refrain from doing this with them!

I think it's ok if you are comfortable. If not, model the way you would want her to respond to someone asking her for affection she's not comfortable with.