KissKissKiss

Lips or cheek?

http://mommyish.com/childrearing/dads-and-affection-how-much-is-too-much/
http://blogs.news.com.au/naughtycorner/index.php/news/comments/kissing_kids_on_the_lips_yes_or_no/
http://www.joannagoddard.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/motherhood-mondays-do-you-kiss-babies.html
http://www.parenting.com/blogs/parenting-post/erin-zammett-ruddy/do-you-kiss-your-kids-lips?viewFull=true

Nora (toddler) seems to be a different story. She loves to pucker up and kiss anyone and anything she can find (she kisses strangers, her dolls, her books, the baby on the Yobaby yogurt container, her sippy cups, even Nicks iPad if we play her the Elmo and Ducks clip, her current obsession). And heres the thing: If you try to give her a cheek, shell grab your face with two hands and force you to give her your lips. Which, of course, is adorable. And, I have to say, I love it. After I read her books at night, she says, nigh, nigh, pulls her paci out, says kiss, then kisses me smack on the lips and dives headfirst into her crib. And Im in heaven. There is really nothing sweeter.

Karin said...
My daughter (now age 9) has always been a full on mouth kisser. To the point where I felt like I had to finally say something when I got a long lingering kiss a few years back. Not to make her feel bad for it but know that its okay to kiss on the mouth but not make out with your mother! LOL

This issue, whether to kiss children on the lips, really seems to divide people and I suppose it can simply be about how one perceives sex and its relationship with kissing but like cuddling it tends to help bonding better than being more stand-offish. My mother always used to kiss us on the lips when we were little and I'm very much with the comments above - if kids are comfortable with it then let them do whatever they want but don't insist on any particular way of kissing. It seems a bit prudish to insist on cheek-kissing but I suppose if that is what you are brought up with then so be it but I doubt if lip-kissing actually contributes in any way to the way we develop sexually or how we view those who we kiss. Comments about hygiene and spread of infections seem a little over the top since it appears the more one is exposed to germs as a child then the more one develops good protections against disease later in life. I guess french-kissing a 9-year-old would be frowned upon, although if you know Karin's daughter she might be up for it!