Nudity Around Your Kids

[Abrigham]

At what age do you need to start worrying about being naked around your kids? I’m a stay-at-home-mom and my son is 17 months. I’m still breastfeeding, so I’m not too worried about it at the moment. I don’t prance around the house naked or anything, but he’s in the bathroom with me when I shower because he’s too little to be left to his own devices in the rest of our house (he has a tendency to climb on things and fall, and otherwise get into trouble) and sometimes he climbs in the shower with me. It’s essentially impossible to pee alone at the moment, especially if we’re in a public bathroom. We also go swimming at the pool just the two of us, so we have to share a changing room when we’re done swimming. If my husband is home and can take him it’s not an issue, but we’re home alone for most of the day.

It might sound disturbing if you’re not a parent, I guess, but if you are I’d hope you’d understand where I’m coming from. I don’t want him to have any weird memories or to affect him in a negative way.

What age should I make sure this stops by?

 

[twoangels]

Nudity is not sinful. Its not going to damage your kids to see you nude. In fact, if you treat nudity as something terrible, you can hurt your children. Its important to know about the human body and to not view it or knowledge of it as objectively immoral. My own opinion is that as your children grow up, you will eventually know on your own when its time to demand your own physical privacy, but I’m guessing this will be a bit after the toddler years and may differ from individual to individual.

 

[anruari]

My view is that it is much healthier to have a relaxed attitude to a certain degree of appropriate nudity within the family, but as the child grows they will see and learn that boundary. - appropriate, and within the family.

While your kids are young enough to need you to help them to dress and to bathe them I see no reason why they should not see you dress, or bathe with you. - it is healthy and helps learning.

As they become older and more independent in these areas, then that degree of nudity will naturally be weaned away without it ever being made a big deal.
From as soon as they are old enough to remove their own nappy,(Diaper) they get taught that the nappy, and the clothes over it stays on in public except when a parent is changing it.

As they approach puberty they are likely to become much more shy and will probably instigate a rejection of any remnants of casual nudity in the home (ie complaining if they do see you on the landing without that towel… and being carefull to cover up themselves/ checking the door is closed be3fore changing.)

It’s very important to encourage that desire for modesty at that age as it will be followed in the following years with strong peer pressure to expose far to much flesh in mixed peer - groups in the teenage years.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

At what age do you need to start worrying about being naked around your kids? I’m a stay-at-home-mom and my son is 17 months. I’m still breastfeeding, so I’m not too worried about it at the moment. I don’t prance around the house naked or anything, but he’s in the bathroom with me when I shower because he’s too little to be left to his own devices in the rest of our house (he has a tendency to climb on things and fall, and otherwise get into trouble) and sometimes he climbs in the shower with me. It’s essentially impossible to pee alone at the moment, especially if we’re in a public bathroom. We also go swimming at the pool just the two of us, so we have to share a changing room when we’re done swimming. If my husband is home and can take him it’s not an issue, but we’re home alone for most of the day.

It might sound disturbing if you’re not a parent, I guess, but if you are I’d hope you’d understand where I’m coming from. I don’t want him to have any weird memories or to affect him in a negative way.

What age should I make sure this stops by?

17 months is still a baby, so that’s fine. My son is 3 and he sometimes is in the room, when I change, or he comes in with me in the bathroom.

My DD is 8, I haven’t changed in front of her completely for a few years. She sees me in my undergaments. DS1 I guess until DD was born at age 3 came into the bathroom with me frequently.

All have seen me nursing the baby.

We believe in modesty, so parading around undressed is not allowed, but occasionally inadvertant nudity is nothing we make a big deal about.

 

[TheCartoonist]

I suppose this won’t help much since I’m a girl, but I showered with my mom or sister until I was about 8 or 9. I guess this is different since you have a son, but just thought I’d throw it out there. I don’t have any bad memories of it, in fact I’ll still hop into the shower right after my mom or sister so we don’t have to shut it off in between, it’s more efficient that way. Nudity was never made into a HUGE deal around the house. I can’t remember ever seeing my brothers or father nude though, maybe once by accident. But my family is full of artists so there’s always been plenty of nude paintings around and neither myself or my siblings have any trouble with modesty, or anything else you might think would come from seeing your mother in the showed. I’m pretty sure my brothers used to shower with my mom as well when they were toddlers.

 

[Iheartcoffee]

When they are still small enough to need strict supervision while you shower/change at the pool/etc…then there is nothing wrong with it. At that age they won’t remember it. Once they start getting to an age where they will vivdly remember it then the nudity should probably stop.

That being said, there’s nothing wrong with seeing breastfeeding. Kids should know that breasts are made for feeding babies.

 

[hsmomforlife]

Somewhere around the ages of 5-7 you might notice staring…at private parts…that’s usually a good clue that it’s time to start being a bit more ‘private’ about private parts… at least that’s what happened with my boys…

Nursing never was an issue, but you should see my 14yo blush whenever I mention that I nursed him!LOL!!!

 

[Aggies08]

I find between 2 and 3… they start noticing (and commenting on) differences between mommy and daddy, etc. DD stopped showering with Daddy at 1 1/2, and me at 3. shrugs

 

[ringil]

I’m a dad and my DD at 3 still bathes with me sometimes.

It’s not a big deal.

 

[epan]

At what age do you need to start worrying about being naked around your kids? I’m a stay-at-home-mom and my son is 17 months. I’m still breastfeeding, so I’m not too worried about it at the moment. I don’t prance around the house naked or anything, but he’s in the bathroom with me when I shower because he’s too little to be left to his own devices in the rest of our house (he has a tendency to climb on things and fall, and otherwise get into trouble) and sometimes he climbs in the shower with me. It’s essentially impossible to pee alone at the moment, especially if we’re in a public bathroom. We also go swimming at the pool just the two of us, so we have to share a changing room when we’re done swimming. If my husband is home and can take him it’s not an issue, but we’re home alone for most of the day.

It might sound disturbing if you’re not a parent, I guess, but if you are I’d hope you’d understand where I’m coming from. I don’t want him to have any weird memories or to affect him in a negative way.

What age should I make sure this stops by?

Kids who grow up in nudist homes are a lot more nonchalant about nudity, obviously. As long as nobody is feeling uncomfortable, or boundaries violated, then nudity should never be a problem at any age. If you feel more comfortable, then wear clothes, if naked then be naked. If you don’t sense any embarrassment or discomfort in your child, then don’t worry about it. If you sense some discomfort, then put something on.

It is really more about how you act, than about what you are wearing with kids.

 

[Blenderx]

Somewhere around the ages of 5-7 you might notice staring…at private parts…that’s usually a good clue that it’s time to start being a bit more ‘private’ about private parts… at least that’s what happened with my boys…

Nursing never was an issue, but you should see my 14yo blush whenever I mention that I nursed him!LOL!!!

I’d probably go with 5-7 as well, and that it varies from kid to kid. My oldest is 3 and I still take him into the shower with me sometimes without any awkwardness.

 

[katolsk]

My parents were very shy about this, I never saw them in any state of undress. My kids, up to 10 years have seen us completely naked on a regular basis but don’t seem to notice.

 

[Debora123]

At what age do you need to start worrying about being naked around your kids? I’m a stay-at-home-mom and my son is 17 months. I’m still breastfeeding, so I’m not too worried about it at the moment. I don’t prance around the house naked or anything, but he’s in the bathroom with me when I shower because he’s too little to be left to his own devices in the rest of our house (he has a tendency to climb on things and fall, and otherwise get into trouble) and sometimes he climbs in the shower with me. It’s essentially impossible to pee alone at the moment, especially if we’re in a public bathroom. We also go swimming at the pool just the two of us, so we have to share a changing room when we’re done swimming. If my husband is home and can take him it’s not an issue, but we’re home alone for most of the day.

It might sound disturbing if you’re not a parent, I guess, but if you are I’d hope you’d understand where I’m coming from. I don’t want him to have any weird memories or to affect him in a negative way.

There’s nothing disturbing or unnatural about this. He’s your child and he’s a baby. Whoever would find this “disturbing” has some serious issues.

What age should I make sure this stops by?

Age 4

 

[Debora123]

Nudity is not sinful. Its not going to damage your kids to see you nude. In fact, if you treat nudity as something terrible, you can hurt your children. Its important to know about the human body and to not view it or knowledge of it as objectively immoral. My own opinion is that as your children grow up, you will eventually know on your own when its time to demand your own physical privacy, but I’m guessing this will be a bit after the toddler years and may differ from individual to individual.

THIS!

 

[cmscms]

Personally, I am not a fan of nudity in front of kids, but I do think you need to evaluate the situation. I think it is much better to have a kid in the washroom with you as opposed to climbing on something. Especially if you have the shower running, you will never hear if he falls.

I also think there is a way to use the washroom modestly ie pull pants down to knees, sit, do what is necessary and immediately pull pants back on. As long as there is no uncessary flaunting (eg, as soon as shower is over, wrap a towel around you), then it is OK.

If your husband is away a lot, this could potentially go on for quite a while, but then again, the problem could perhaps self correct it self. Perhaps you kids rountine will change and there will be opportunity to shower while he is doing something else like taking a nap

But again, I really think it comes down to if there is no other alternative, then there is not much you can do.

I actually remember taking care of 2 very active little girls and the only way I could use the washroom was to put them in the tub. They were 2 and 3 and the option of leaving the bathroom door open while they where in the living room did not exist They got into so many things, they wouldn’t stay in the washroom unless they were in the tub. Thank God they were girls, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable with a boy that was not mine

CM

 

[SurlyMermaid]

17 months is still a baby, so that’s fine. My son is 3 and he sometimes is in the room, when I change, or he comes in with me in the bathroom.

My DD is 8, I haven’t changed in front of her completely for a few years. She sees me in my undergaments. DS1 I guess until DD was born at age 3 came into the bathroom with me frequently.

All have seen me nursing the baby.

We believe in modesty, so parading around undressed is not allowed, but occasionally inadvertant nudity is nothing we make a big deal about.

Yeah. This.

 

[mt_gooseberry]

I asked nearly the same question on a parenting forum, and I got tons of anwers. I would say about 90% of them said you should start covering up when either one of you starts to feel uncomfortable about it.

Within our family, we are very relaxed about nudity. We actually will go wandering around the house naked. Outside of the family, among members of the opposite sex at least, we are very modest. DH won’t even take off his shirt to go swimming!

There is also a huge cultural gap when it comes to nudity. Americans tend to be on the prudish end of the spectrum. Scandinavians, on the other hand…

 

[Crescentinus]

There is also a huge cultural gap when it comes to nudity. Americans tend to be on the prudish end of the spectrum. Scandinavians, on the other hand…

The Asian view of nudity tends to be somewhat varied though.
For instance, the idea of going to a public bath is an alien one to Filipinos whereas it is acceptable to the Japanese.
But, both the Japanese and the Filipinos are generally speaking, more prudish as far as the view on nudity is concerned. Last time I checked, Koreans are not that much into public baths as well.

 

[MissRose73]

It depends on the parents, and as mentioned in previous posts, some views are cultural. My family background is a mix of mainly Western/Central European ancestries.

I grew up in a household that was all female with the exception of my father. Growing up, we rarely saw him naked. My mother did not have too many issues with nudity but confined it mainly to the bathroom, the tub, and perhaps wrapping a towel around one’s self to go get dressed in a bedroom. My sister is a bit less modest compared to myself who is more self conscious about what we each look like without clothes on but with her having 1 son and 1 daughter perhaps she approaches things differently compared to our mother who had 2 daughters.

 

[ringil]

I asked nearly the same question on a parenting forum, and I got tons of anwers. I would say about 90% of them said you should start covering up when either one of you starts to feel uncomfortable about it.
:

Oh, I’d certainly agree with that! Good and plain advice there!