Hey, I have a moral question.
If my boyfriend (25yo) shows me a photo of him as a kid, and asks me “Was I cute?” What is the appropriate response?
Of course my boyfriend is so cute, but saying that him as a kid was cute is inappropriate? Just because he was like 12yo in that picture?
Where is the line here? I usually refuse to have opinions on kids appearances because usually I have none, and I don’t know if saying that a kid looks “cute” is creepy.
Oh, no worries at all! Your post doesn’t strike me as malicious at all. Just seems like we should be especially concerned with making the OPs feel “stupid” here :)
So it seems like you have 2 main points in your post (1 OP is overly worried, 2 sexual abuse is the real concern), so keeping both but with a more neutral tone:
> You should not be worried about saying that a kid looks cute. The real concern that you’re hinting at with behavior toward children is anything that connotes sexual abuse, and the comment “that is a cute kid” is very different from that.
Or you could go for a positive tone:
> You have nothing to worry about! Saying a kid looks cute is very different from sexualizing them.