The internet mommy-shamers are at it again.
Having browbeaten Kelly Clarkson for feeding her kid Nutella and scolded Kate Beckinsale for going out without her (legal adult) daughter, our beloved parenting experts have moved on to Jessica Simpson. Why? Because she posted a photo of her 5-year-old daughter Maxwell wearing a bikini and jutting out her hip for the camera.
Ironically, the former pop star seemed to be sharing a message about the importance of kids wearing bike helmets, captioning the pic "safety first." Many of her Instagram followers, however, fixated on Maxwell's outfit and pose.
Some comments suggested that Simpson was putting her daughter at risk by making the photo public.
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"Please lock down the pictures like this to only true friends," one follower wrote. "There are disgusting people out there who would use this picture for bad things. Never post pictures of young girls in bathing suits for the public to see!"
"I would NEVER post a picture like this of my 5-year-old daughter!" one critic added. "This is an account anyone can see. Jessica shame on you for exposing your daughter instead of protecting her!"
It gets worse.
"I like Jessica, and I think this picture is cute, but it should only be shared privately," read another comment. "Otherwise I've got 2 words for you: JonBenét Ramsey."
"A child posing like that... that's just creepy," another mommy-shamer chimed in. "If I had a daughter that age I [wouldn't let her] wear a tiny bikini like that and pose herself like a model."
Thankfully, Simpson had more than a few supporters in her corner.
"It's a BODY!" wrote a fan. "If it was a little boy in swim trunks, no one wouldn't bat an eye or utter a word! Quit #bodyshaming girls. Women have enough expectations without adding the weight of others judgments. It's skin, it's a swimsuit, it's summer.....HAVE FUN!!!"
"I'm sorry that people have to sexualize your daughter and try to make you feel bad about something fun and innocent," wrote another commenter, while many followers noted that their children make similar poses.
At the end of the day, the kid is 5. Let's not make her, or her mother, self-conscious about her body or how she looks or even where she rests her hand, okay?
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