I’m really going to be transparent here. Not that I’m not always transparent because, baby, I’m like a window.
Warning: Given that I just had cold sores clear up about a week ago that made my entire lip swell up, I might be a little heated about this.
Parents are constantly telling people not to kiss their children. Aside from this being a consent issue, there are several other very important reasons for this that make me wish parents had adopted this earlier. It also makes me wish people would FUCKING LISTEN TO PARENTS when they say not to kiss their kids. We don’t care if you “aren’t sick” or they “just have the sniffles” or “it’s allergies” because that may not be true.
First, adult immune systems are much stronger than a small child, particularly a baby. While you may not seem sick to you, you could have an illness brewing inside you that just isn’t affecting you. What seems like just a runny nose to you, could be a serious illness if a small child or baby were to catch it. I don’t want my child to get your yucky runny nose even if it wasn’t. Then they have a runny nose, which sucks and makes them grumpy, and they also have no chill and will wipe their boogers in my eyes and hair or on my shirt, pillow, blankets, and couch (or the cat). Also, have you ever tried to wipe a baby’s nose? They hate it!
But again, it could lead to a serious illness in a child or baby even if it’s not serious to you. A baby could get RSV, which can be deadly. They could get the flu, strep, COVID, or any number of illnesses from you that could have severe and sometimes fatal consequences, even if to you it’s just a runny nose, a sore throat, or some other mundane symptom that you dismiss. Even if you have no symptoms of anything, there so many germs that could get a child sick if an illness is within your body.
Why am I talking about this now three years into having this blog?
I’m talking about it for several reasons. 1. I see people continuously dismiss my wishes to not have my children kissed by those that did not create said child. 2. I see people dismiss the wishes of other parents in regard to kissing their children. 3. I had cold sores that swelled up my entire lip and have had it happening as far back as I can remember.
Let’s break down why I have had cold sores since I was a child shall we. Could it have been from sharing a drink or something else with someone? Yes. Could it be some other unknown reason that I had not figured out yet? Absolutely. But the more likely answer to this is that someone either kissed me while they had an active cold sore breakout or something of that nature.
So basically, someone couldn’t keep their mouth off me while they knew they had Herpes Simplex Virus 1 (HSV-1). (And don’t try to bullshit me that you didn’t know because if you get cold sores, it is almost certainly because you have HSV-1 and even if you didn’t know, that’s exactly why you don’t kiss children or babies because you may not know.) Now, I have to suffer with cold sores for the rest of my life because someone couldn’t keep their mouth to themselves. That doesn’t seem fair. It also doesn’t seem fair that because I’m a responsible adult that I don’t normally kiss my children (I especially don’t kiss them while I have cold sores) because I don’t want them to have the same issue.
The fact of the matter is that you shouldn’t kiss people’s children. You don’t know what you have or don’t have that could harm them. You also need to listen to parents when they set boundaries about their kids. This applies to all boundaries not just kissing their children.
Just please. Keep your mouth and your hands to yourself. There are other ways to show other people’s children you love them besides hugging and kissing them.
One more time for the people in the back who are going to pretend they don’t hear anything several entire generations are saying to them.
DO NOT PUT YOUR MOUTH OR HANDS ON SOMEONE ELSE’S CHILD. If you did not have a hand in creating a child, figure out another way to show them you care.
KEEP YOUR MOUTH AND HANDS TO YOURSELF.
This is seriously something that shouldn’t have to be discussed. This is basic decency and common sense. We learn this shit in fucking preschool people.
Thank you and goodnight.