nose pressing

I am an Englishman married to a Chinese Singaporean. When we had our first child, Melody, I thought back to when I was a little boy and how my parents used to press my nose pretending it was a button and made silly noises. So I proceeded to do this in front of my wife and she got very angry, immediately pulling with her fingers from Melody's nose outwards.

I was perplexed and asked her what she was doing . I found out that in Chinese culture it is common to pull the nose of an infant to make it more pointed (more desirable than a flatter nose). When I pressed the nose my wife took it to mean that I was trying to make the nose flatter! When I found out this I never again pressed any of my kid's noses even though I can freely do it with a clear conscience! Why ? Because I love my wife and also the people who I live amongst (primarily Chinese).