Former footballer David Beckham has never shied away from public displays of affection when it comes to his kids.
Notorious for sharing loved up pics with his family, the 44-year-old has faced many a critic when it comes to these PDA’s — particularly when it comes to daughter, Harper, eight.
Taking to his Instagram on November 30, the former Manchester United captain shared some sweet father-daughter moments of a recent trip to an ice skating rink in London, where he is seen kissing Harper on the lips.
“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas ??.. Thanks to @nhm_icerink for looking after us today,” he captioned the post.
And while innocent enough, the post has caused criticism world-wide, which is almost identical to another post which sparked controversy a year earlier.
In 2018, Beckham caused an uproar when he shared another photo at the skating rink with his then seven-year-old daughter, sharing a small peck on the lips.
Some outlets have speculated that Beckham is giving the big ol’ middle finger to his haters, however, it hasn’t stopped some pretty epic trolling in the Instagram comments, with one user even calling him a “pedo”.
“FBI OPEN THE DOOR!!” one comment read, while another said: “Shame on your behaviour with your daughter.”
And then there was this: “I hope to god Piers Morgan doesn’t see this ?”.
Last year, media commentator Piers Morgan led the charge against Beckham, calling affectionate dad-of-four, “creepy” and “weird”.
“Why would a father kiss his daughter on the lips? Don’t get it. Creepy. Weird. Creepy,” the Good Morning Britain host said in a scathing attack.
In 2017, David was criticised yet again, however, unphased by the backlash, he announced that he and wife, Victoria, do the same with all of his children.
“We want to show our kids love,” he said, before admitting that it stops short at his 20-year-old son, Brooklyn.
“He might find that a little bit strange,” he said. “But I’m very affectionate with the kids. It’s how I was brought up and Victoria, and it’s how we are with our children.
“We want to show our kids love and we protect them, look after them, and support them, and we’re very affectionate with them.”
But, is kissing your child on the lips really such a bad thing?
Last year, American child psychologist Charlotte Reznick caused outrage when she told The Daily Mail you should never kiss your child on the mouth.
“If you start kissing your kids on the lips, when do you stop?” she said after Beckham’s wife shared a picture of her kissing Harper.
The psychologist then backed up her claim by saying that children become aware about their sexuality at an early age, so an innocent kiss on the mouth can create emotional bonds that can be confusing to a child.
“As a child gets to four or five or six and their sexual awareness develops, the kiss on the lips can be stimulating to them,” the doctor explained.
“People don’t like to hear this but the lips are an erogenous zone and feel-good chemicals that are associated with sexual arousal — including serotonin and oxytocin — are released through lip-kissing.”
However, Reznick had (many) naysayers, and another psychologist, Dr Sally Anne McCormack told The Sun:
“There’s absolutely no way that kissing a young child on the lips is confusing for them in any way.”
“That’s like saying breastfeeding is confusing. Some people might have issues with it,” McCormack continued.
“But it isn’t any more sexual than giving a baby a back rub.”
It seems that kissing your child on the lips is a sure-fire way to divide the internet, but in the case of David Beckham, he simply doesn’t care what you think. And why should he?!