The Beckhams

[Curtainpalm]

So let me start by saying that I actually really like VB (well I like her from her Insta posts) and she looks great. Don't really follow DB but am sure he's fine too but find it really strange the way they've really pushed their children into the spotlight from a very young age, they obviously really love them and seem to especially dote on Harper and this is where I find them quite contradictory.

Brooklyn seems to come up for lots of criticism, rightly or wrongly but he's still very young and maybe just finding his way. Obviously he's had incredible opportunities that most of our DC could only dream of but I can't help but think if he was allowed to do these things out of the spotlight it would have been much better for him. Some of articles I read about him have been awful but some might argue that if V&B had let him grow up in private then he wouldn't be put under such constant scrutiny.

Cruz being on the front cover of a magazine virtually naked at 17 and his failed singing career. I know at 17 it's entirely his choice but seems very young IMHO.

Harper is a gorgeous girl but looking at photos of her yesterday at VB's fashion show I just thought she was dressed so inappropriately, she's 11 (or thereabouts) and was in a dress more suitable for a 20 year old. She's obviously on the cusp of puberty and I can't help but feel it can't be healthy for a young girl to be all over the press and again, maybe not now because she is still a little girl, but at some point become a target for trolls (she may already well be).

Romeo - I don't know much about except he plays for his dad'd club (I think).

As I said above, they're obviously loved but this aspect of their upbringing is quite weird (to me anyway) but I might be just an old fart and this is all very normal 😜

my Dd is 11. She wear flares, little t shirts, baggy jumpers. To be smart she might wear a jump suit. Harpers plunging neckline is so off.

Why. On. Earth. Do. You. Care?

To be fair re the dress. It's the first time I've ever seen her photographed in such a grown up style. It was also played down with no make up, trainers and a child appropriate hair style. She is normally dressed in clothes which are more suitable for her age.

Lots of 11y do go,out in make up, hair and nails now, heels etc which she wasn't. So although not the type of dress I'd chose for a child it wasn't really much worse than some things you see girls that age in a lot of the time. Just going past the local primary school when it's disco or prom night you'll see 11y in much worse.

Lots of people chose to photograph their children and have them in social media. That's a personal choice and up to them. The media, and grown adults, shouldn't use the parents choice as an excuse to pull children and young adults apart though.

I'm sure they'll all manage to navigate through their young lives and have happy adult hoods one way or the other, even if they make some dodgy choices on the way. Hopefully the children will learn from any mistakes they make and move on. Least they have money behind them to help them through.

Lots of children miss a day from school if their parents work has them doing something big. We had a child miss a day last week as their mum had an event taking place in London which the child was attending along with their family. The day off wasn't an issue.

I'm glad I'm not the only one.
I couldn't believe my eyes.
Inappropriate for a child that age, I felt.

It's the Beckhams who want us to care, which is why they keep pushing their mediocre offspring into the public eye. A lot of people who have fame on the same level as the Beckhams try and keep their kids well away from the media and public scrutiny. None of them have any talent it would appear and I feel sorry that their parents keep trying to make them happen.

There's a really easy way in which to stop the public commenting on their kids, if they don't like it. You'd think they would have realised that after the embarrassment of Brooklyn's photography book.

Why on Earth do you comment if you don’t care?

What do you mean, buy him an education? He was in a football academy for a while, but wasn't good enought to be kept on. They paid to privately school him, then he started at a specialist arts uni in new york but dropped out after his first year (because he released that awful book of photography!).

Not sure what more they could have done, they clearly supported him through his various passions - football, modelling, photography, cooking....the problem is that he doesn't seem to be very good at them, doesn't want to put in any work or effort, and then quits when he, unsurprisingly (because of the first 2 factors), gets lambasted.

If he really loved photography he could have benefitted from 4 years at a specialist school, then built himself a career, probably even then taking advantage of his parents links. Probably never would have made as much money or been as famous as his parents, but would still be an interesting, fairly glamorous career, that he could have at least partially earned himself.

Same with cooking, he could have gone to culinary school then started working in restaurants and built up a bit of a name for himself. But instead he wanted his own tv show showing people how to cook a sandwich....

I agree with you OP. I think they should have kept their DCs out of the spotlight like most in their position to do. Especially their daughter as we all know the likes of the DM sidebar of shame. All too long it will be 'Harper showcases dress'.

I like to think that if I was super rich, I'd make sure my children had a first class education and tried to steer them down a more academic path...but in reality, if they weren't blessed with high intelligence (or enough drive or charisma to compensate for a lack of the former) what would it actually achieve?

I suppose it goes back to unremarkable being unremarkable, whatever part of society it happens to have found itself in.

I think many photos of her over the last few years show a slightly overweight child. I can get flamed for saying it but if that was one of my DC or one of their friends I would think the same.

Any of us might think this about our own child or someone else’s child but would we say it out loud?

Would we say it out loud about a girl who is in (or about to be in) puberty? A critical stage of her physical development at which she might be feeling self conscious and already developing a negative self image because of the way society and the media talks about and treats women’s bodies.

Would we say it out loud about a young person who has another family member who appears to have (or have had) an eating disorder?

Would we say it as a throwaway comment which doesn’t appear to have any relevance to the rest of the discussion?

I wouldn’t, personally, but each to their own.

I have witnessed normal fluctuations in my children’s weight and body shape during their childhood, and especially during puberty. I certainly never pointed it out to them. (Obviously if a child is significantly overweight and remains so for a significant period of time, then parents should take some action, but a little bit of puppy fat right before puberty is usually not something to be very worried about as there is a good chance it will change again as the child’s body develops).

Absolutely, well said. Tbh I don’t think comments about a well known child’s weight should be allowed to stand on here.

Again, this goes back to my original point. Why would ever knowingly put your child in a position where people are able to discuss their weight?

I agree with you OP.

All young people should be taught they have to make their own way in life and it is not all clear that the Beckham offspring would fare very well if the money disappeared overnight.

I had a French friend who came from a very wealthy family, and this happened to them. He said that eventually he realised it was the best thing that had happened to him, and he went on to become a very successful chef who flew round the world cooking for famous people.

I don’t put my children online. BUT, the reason for that is not because some people are absolute cunts and can’t control their bullying little ways enough to not call a child overweight on a forum like mumsnet. Something is really wrong with some people.

But that's an accurate reflection of social media. That's not how it works. People aren't always nice and VB & DB are, of course, well aware of that.

Absolutely this but again begs the question why they would put their children into the spotlight and up for the most public of scrutiny? On this thread alone there have been comments on HB's weight. BB has been called talentless and mumsnet probably is one of the nicer corners of the internet (on the whole ;) and there is so much worse on social media.

They both seem like incredibly loving parents which is why I find it hard to understand why they do this.

NOT an accurate..!

But it comes down to whether you let your choices be ruled by idiots. I feel no desire to post on insta/tiktok but if others do, should they really not because bullies can’t control themselves. The blame lies with the bullies in the public.

Agreed, people should be nicer. But sometimes, in fact a lot of the time, they're really, really not especially on the internet.

You do realise that you are not compelled to be horrible to people online?

I watch the short documentary on Caroline Flack and it makes me marvel at people like you.

Why do you do it? Just why? I don’t get it? Please help me understand what’s within you that compels you to be so unkind to people you only know and see from a distance. Your horribleness is part of the toxicity that damages people. Like that young girl who recently killed herself.

Relax and find something positive and wholesome to contribute to the online world.

They are shameless in their money grabbing and publicity seeking it seems addictive to them

that is who they are even their children are trotted out to make money and gain some extra publicity

and DB has a nice little earner for the World Cup despite the huge amount of publicity around the cruelty towards workers if you can call them that but bless he did join the queue

Good point, but I don't actually think I am being horrible. Just questioning an aspect of their parenting and whether it's right to put children on world stage up therefore open to comments / scrutiny to anyone who reads it.

Apols for weird typos, dyslexic and tired today.

But you are a bit over invested aren’t you? Why do you have such a deep and keen interest in this, so much so that you are adding to the toxicity that you admit could harm Harper in the future.