Can I kiss my stepsons?
I read something that struck me dead in my tracks. Basically the BM found out that the stepmom was kissing her 2 boys ages 6 and 7 on the mouth, like a little peck, and called child protective services.
I have 2 stepsons who are 8 and almost 10 and before they go to bed I kiss them on the mouth real quick to say good nite, I also do this with my 7 year old stepdaughter. Is this wrong? Can I get into trouble for this?
It led me to think about other behaivor, I help out on bath time with all the children. I help my stepdaughter dry off and help her get in her jammies and school clothes in the morning. Is seeing their naked bodies something I should not be doing?
Please let me know what you think, Im dealing with a BM who would find this out and RUN WITH IT. God knows what she would do with something like this! THANKS
I sure hope not or you and I
I sure hope not or you and I may be sharing a cellblock! I treat my SS the same as my own and I have no problem kissing them hello, goodbye, goonight- or even just cause they ran up and laid a big ol' smoocharoo on me... cuff me up and take me away... cause I don't see anything wrong with it! I love that little boy. I I wouldn't worry about it unless BM in YOUR situation brings it up.
I think the defining
I think the defining question is would you do this with your own children?
I kiss mine on the lips, too, just a quick peck and an I LOVE YOU before bed and before sending the boy off to school in the morning. This is for my bio kids. My skids got the same treatment, too, when they were younger, but after they started getting older - probably ten or eleven - they were just too big, it wasn't cool to kiss any parent, so we graduated to hugs. My son is 9 and the kisses are fewer now, as he's now decided it's not cool. (Lord, help me!) As for bathing/dressing, my bio son is nine and he does it all on his own and would be MORTIFIED if I saw him naked. We only have one bathroom, so there are times when we have to barge in on one another during baths/showers, but he has been handling his own bathing and dressing totally alone for a few years now. I help pick out matching clothes, but he dresses, undresses and bathes alone and has since he was four or five. Now, my SS has a developmental delay and assorted other problems, so I have had to do more helping with him at an older age due to this. I think it depends on the child and their stage of development, but these kids need to be doing this stuff for themselves at their ages.
I think it's great to show affection to your stepchildren and there's no such thing as loving a child too much. But if you are worried or you just want to make sure there's no PERCEPTION of impropriety, then put that peck on their forehead and graduate them to doing for themselves come time for bathing, dressing and undressing. They are old enough now, even the 7 year old. But I congratulate you for being a loving stepparent, because obviously you care about these children and they care about you and that is the ABSOLUTE best situation to have. You're very lucky and so are your skids!
~ Anne ~
Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice: Pull down your pants and slide on the ice! -M*A*S*H (Sidney Freedman to the OR staff on dealing with stress)
WHY I DO THESE THINGS
My BF and I want to give them baths and help them get dressed for as long as poss. because they are around a known child molester and we want to check out their bodies and make sure everything is OK in areas. So thats whats going on.....
THANKS
Haley