Yes, we let all of ours go near our faces if THEY choose to. We never force them to get in our face. However, there have been times that our 2 year old decided to "kiss" one of them right on the head but they didn't seem to mind. We also let them wrap around our neck and chill out there. I know some people think that's a bad idea to let a snake wrap around your neck, but our snakes seem to like it and we don't mind. Our 8 year old almost always has his pinstripe around his neck. He started her out at a month old getting her used to being around his neck and his face and she is the most docile snake I have ever seen. She actually LIKES to have her head petted like a dog lol. We do supervise the children when they are holding the snakes and especially if they have them around their necks or in their faces, but we haven't had any problems at all with getting bit or struck at.