Kiss Between Tom Brady, 11-Year-Old Son Raises Questions About Parent-Child Affection
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is catching some heat over a kiss he shared with his son.
The moment was shown as part of a Facebook docu-series, and now some are questioning this type of affection between parents and their kids.
In the documentary, called "Tom vs. Time," there is a scene showing the five-time Super Bowl winner getting a massage, CBS2's Elise Finch reported. Afterward, his 11-year-old son comes into the room and asks him if he can check his fantasy football standings.
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"Oh, hello. I was wondering if I could check my fantasy team," son Jack Brady says.
"What do I get?" his father replies. Jack leans over and kisses his father and is about to leave the room, while the massage therapist working on Tom Brady's shoulder says, "You know Jack, everything comes with a cost, bud."
"That was like a peck," Tom Brady says.
Jack returns, leans over again and kisses his father on the mouth a second time. And the second kiss shared by father and son prompted tweets from viewers using words like "very disturbing" and "uncomfortably long."
CBS2 asked New Yorkers what they thought.
"I'm a little uncomfortable with that," one passerby said.
"I think at a certain age it's like OK you can kiss them on the cheek; you can give 'em a hug," said Emily Hernandez, a mother of two from Harlem. "But not in the mouth and not for that long."
"Too long, like romantic long," said Parrish Watson of Parkchester.
"I kiss my son on his lips. I have since day one," said Kurt Czaplinski of Hempstead. "I would have no problem with my son kissing me like that."
Lifestyle and parenting expert Lyss Stern says she does not see anything wrong.
"If you kiss your kids too much, it's the wrong thing. If you kiss your kids too little, it's the wrong thing. If you hug too much -- people need to back off and stop parent shaming," said Stern, chief executive officer of DivaMoms.com.
Of the people who spoke to CBS2, no one questioned Brady's intentions toward his child. But they did seem to question the message he's sending with his actions.
"I don't think affection should ever be tied in with a favor," said social worker and parenting expert Carolyn Meyer-Wartels.
Meyer-Wartels is a licensed clinical social worker and parenting expert. She said when it comes to physical touch, the message we send our children should be clear.
"You don't do anything with your body because someone else is insisting that you do it in order for you to get what you want," she said.
She said that applies even if that person is mom or dad.
Experts say people are getting a glimpse of one moment in a lifetime between father and son, perhaps out of context, so judgment isn't warranted.
Brady has not commented on the issue.
