'Getting likes is important to kids'

David Beckham opens up on his worries for his four children and protecting them from the dark side of social media

It can be tough growing up in one of celebrity’s most stellar households, and for the Beckham kids, their every move is logged and noted by the world’s media.

Speaking in London last week, dad David explained that he and wife Victoria hoped their children Brooklyn, 24, Romeo, 20, Cruz, 18, and Harper, who turns 12 this week, wouldn’t add to the publicity by making social media mistakes they would later pay the price for.

“Hopefully the mistakes that they do make are not ones that they look back in 10 years and regret,” he said.

“Having four children, I’m very aware of the dangers of what’s out there for kids.

“We’re always trying to protect our children as much as possible. On the social media side, there’s only so much you can do, but we tried to advise our children every single day.

“Protection of social media is a big thing. We all know that as parents – it can be worrying.

“I just want them to be happy and I want them to be polite and humble. And that’s how we brought them up.”

David, who has lived under the glare of publicity himself since becoming a Manchester United footballer at the age of 17, became a paparazzi favourite when he started dating Spice Girl Victoria, now 49, in 1997.

He may have been thinking back to his own gaffes such as the cornrow hairstyle he sported when meeting Nelson Mandela, or the sarong he wore on a date night with Victoria, when he admitted, “I was kind of lucky back in the day when that happened to me there wasn’t any social media.