Saturday, February 21, 2009

Kissing our Baby Boy

As my blog world friends know, we have a son. I cannot tell you the number of times we have had negative comments about KISSING our little boy. --THIS IS A VENTING POST-- It's the random people whom we've encountered while out and about who have felt the need to share their opinions about kissing boys.
Seriously? Just because we have a boy we should be any less affectionate than if we had had a sweet little girl?! We love our son. We are crazy about him. And YES, we DO KISS HIM and he kisses us. Not only do we believe it's Ok, we believe it's essential. We are choosing to love him on purpose. We want him to KNOW that he is dearly loved and well taken care of by his family.
It is not my goal to "toughen him up" before the age of two. Believe me, he's all boy! I'm not worried that kisses from Mama and Daddy are going to make him a softy. But that seems to be the concern.

Once, as we were leaving the doctors office my husband was consoling our little boy. He kissed him and told him that everything was Ok and whispered 'I Love You' to him. The lady who worked the front desk made a very negative comment about that. As if Dad's should not kiss their baby boys. As we left and got outside, we talked about how this was not the first time we had heard something like this... and why?! Is it the thinking of past generations?
I don't think it's biblical. I mean, as a family, we are called to represent God's love. God's love is unconditional. God's love is deep and intimate and true. He doesn't 1/2 love us. He is not distant or independent or stand-off-ish. God is near. God cares about everything we are going thru. God is the best Dad we could ever want. God's love is powerful... His love drives out fear!
We really try not to make negative comments to people who do things differently. And we are not perfect parents... But we DO KISS!
What say you blog world???

12 comments:

Valarie said...

That's insane that people would feel that they have the right to tell you that. We kiss our kids all of the time. I mean, Shiloh is 7 1/2 and he still kisses me and my husband on the mouth. I think my husband still kisses his Mom on the mouth. We feel the same way. Just because he's a boy doesn't mean he can't be affectionate. I think it makes them better men for knowing how to show their feelings instead of hiding them. And poor Israel, he receives about a million kisses from us and his bro & sis everyday. All of our kids are affectionate and I love it! Keep it up! :-)

Mari said...

As I have encountered with this pregnancy people say the "rudest" things! KISS AWAY...I think it's GREAT! Kaira would kiss him too if she saw him - I'm sure of it! I'm on a shirt making campaign, maybe this should be one of them.

Someone actually told me (in a public restroom) to get Todd fixed. Huh?

All these comments are (I believe) a glimpse into people's souls, their lives and their emptiness (thier own need for love and for a Savior)...it gives us great opportunity to pray and love on them too!

AtlantaMama said...

I'm glad to know that we are not the only ones who hear "comments" from the general public. I think if someone told me to have my husband "fixed" I would have lost it!!!! Whoa there!!

Anonymous said...

It’s a shame that someone would make a negative comment about a parent LOVING on a child. What do they have to say to parents who abuse or neglect their children? You guys are wonderful parents and loving role models : )

Writeaway said...

I always think of my FCA friend, Beth, who had quads. She used to stay home to avoid rude comments from people - like "better you than me" and "Oh my goodness! Four!" - like it was a negative thing.

Our family is affectionate and it's a good thing. We think the world is harsh - and we want our family to be a place of safety and love. Including kissing.

Anonymous said...

we do too!!!

Mari said...

Yeah, I was wondering about the abuse thing myself. If these people saw someone abusing a child in public would they be as quick to speak up?

Sad, very sad!

I find myself avoiding places and people too, to avoid rude comments about how many kids I have or how big my belly is in my 8th month of pregnancy!

Garrett said...

Keep on kissin'! This world is ''not of God'' . The more we try to love God, the harder it's going to be to live as Christians. Press on and love your sweet baby boy!

Anonymous said...

This is unbelievable to me! We kiss Luke all the time and kissing was one of his first big "milestones" and probably my favorite one. We have never gotten any negative comments about it, and it's probably good, because I'd probably be liable to tell someone who said something how I feel about their comment! Showing affection to your kids, even boys, is not even a question in my mind...it's healthy and will make them better, stronger men one day! Like you said, this shows them just one of the many aspects of how God loves us and how they should love others, especially their future wives and kids.

Abby said...

you better keep kissing that beautiful boy! I can't believe people actually say things to you about that. ridiculous.

steve and randel hambrick said...

that really surprises me. i would have never imagined someone would have had a problem with a parent showing a child affection! bizzarro!

Anonymous said...

You keep kissin that baby! Probably the people who make comments were not loved on very much as children...or maybe even adults...and possibly have intimacy issues.