Dear Prudence,
I am happily married to my husband of 16 years. I have known my in-laws since high school and they are lovely, kind people. In the past five to six years, my father-in-law has started adding a kiss hello to the usual hug greeting when we see them. I wouldn’t be writing to you if it was a side kiss, but this is a lip kiss hello. As someone who is not very touchy or affectionate outside of my husband, it makes me extremely uncomfortable.
The vibe from my father-in-law is not creepy, but more so picking up an old-timey greeting habit. I have spoken to the other daughters-in-law about their experience and we all agree that we don’t like it, but opt to dodge as best we can so the kiss comes on the cheek, or inform him of potential sickness. But how many colds can I get?! Do we have someone (most likely a husband, one of his sons) say something to him about our discomfort with lip kiss greetings, or just keep doing our dodge and hope for the best method? None of the sons or daughters-in-law would enjoy this potentially awkward conversation.
—Why on the Lips