My parents have always (and still) walk around in their undies. My sister did it too until she was 25 or so when my dad finally said, “Cover that up.”
Me? Only when alone. A friend of mine was talking the other day, and she had just come back from spending three days with her niece, who is four. This conversation totally freaked me out:
“Princess and I were talking in the shower…”
“What do you mean in the shower?!! Was she in there with you?”
“Of course. She can’t bathe alone yet.”
“Then you sit on the closed commode and wait for her!!”
::shudder::
I don’t mind the kids seeing parents in undies, but naked? Nope, no way. The few times I saw my parents naked, I was scarred for life.
My kids are 6 and 4, and the four of us are more than comfortable walking around naked in front of each other. I don’t know how long that will last with my son, though. He is already at the stage of not wanting to be naked in front of people outside the family.
But over here, the public hot springs are mostly segregated because you bathe naked in them. So boys are used to seeing their fathers, uncles, grandfathers etc. naked, and girls are used to seeing their mothers, aunts, grandmothers, etc. As well as complete strangers.
But the creepiest thing I heard was a TV star over here was still bathing with her father when she was 25! That kind of makes me shudder. I’d hate to bathe with my dad or my FIL (although FIL will walk around after a bath with just a small towel wrapped around his waist and nothing else).
All in all, I don’t think its sick. My kids are still getting the idea that bodies are private things, but nothing to be embarrassed about.
This is incomprehensible to me. I showered with my daughter (I’m female, despite the masculine username) quite regularly until very recently–she’s five now. For one thing, it let me take a shower in peace while she played with the water in the bottom of the tub. For another thing, it was just easier. If my son (barely two) tolerated showers, I’d shower with him, but he doesn’t like showers. But probably at around three I’d let him shower with daddy but not with me, I think, I’m not sure why. I still wouldn’ t blink at showering with my daughter now, at five, but she prefers to shower by herself these days. Why should it induce a shudder? They’re both girls, they’re related, and a four year old does need some help bathing. It kills two birds with one stone.
Now, bathing with your dad when you’re twenty five–that is a bit much for me.
As for breasts, the two year old was using mine for a food source not that long ago, and the five year old remembers nursing as well–I don’t walk around topless, but if someone walks into the bathroom while I’m undressing or something, I don’t really worry about it.
::Bren_Cameron
This is incomprehensible to me. I showered with my daughter (I’m female, despite the masculine username) quite regularly until very recently–she’s five now. ::
Ya, but it wasn’t her daughter, it was her niece.
I don’t think I’d have wanted my daughter showering with her aunt at any age.
I don’t know at what point it was that I suddenly became modest with Lara. I guess around the same time that she became modest with me. She’s 12 and we both take measures to make sure we don’t catch each other completely naked. Hell, I don’t even want to see myself unclothed! She really freaks if her chest is accidentally exposed. I think it’s rather sweet. We both wander the house in our undies though. No men around, and the cat doesn’t seem to mind
Oh heck, I still take showers with my three year old daughter every day. It’s just easier and we sing and draw with soap crayons.
I agree that it might be weird with a niece, but little kids are very comfortable with nudity and generally want to take baths with people they love. Kiddo loves taking showers with Gramma and baths with her aunt (who is only 11) and cousin (12). It’s just not that big of a deal with little kids…
A story: A friend of mine with three daughters (no sons at all) has a husband who liked to walk around naked. He finally stopped when one of the girls said, “Daddy, what’s that thing hanging out of your vagina?”
As for bathing naked, it might be kind of odd with your niece, but not horrible or anything. Maybe it’s a very close relationship or something.
Shrew’s reaction sort of reminds me of a conversation on “All in the Family,” when Archie is extremely disgusted to hear about Mike bathing with his young son, Joey. I guess nudity around small kids bothers some people more than it does others.
Incidentally, as long as I’m bringing up pop culture, did anyone read Sue Miller’s novel, The Good Mother? The main character in that book, a single mother with a four/five year old daughter has a pretty relaxed view of nudity…which sort of leads to an incident with the mother’s boyfriend. Rather reminscient of this discussion, IMHO.
Well, I have two lil sisters and no brothers. My mom walked around just in underpants, as did my dad. My dad used to shower with my youngest sister until she was about 4, then one day she said, “Dad, your dick is in the way.”
That put an end to that…
I was born in Finland and got used to having saunas in mixed company. What usually happened was that the men would go in first, when the sauna was the hottest, and the women and children would go in after.Of course, bouys would try to join the men in the hot sauna as soon as they were able to, because it was a matter of honour to be able to withstand 120 degrees of heat (celcius). If neighbours were visiting they would join in. Nobody made a big thing about nudity, whether within a family unit or with other people. They even had public saunas in cities where you could go in and bathe in mixed company. I recall that they had washerwomen in those saunas, who would wash your back if you deemed it necessary- they were clothed because they did not go in the steam room. IMHO this exposure did not make me unbalanced, nudity is only frowned upon here because people equate it with sex. Also, the ideal figure is not the average figure. Believe me, I know. When you are exposed to nudity, you become less selfconscious about your own looks, maybe that would cut down the number of eating disorders that plague North Americans. Not everybody is built to be rail thin, no matter how hard they diet.
My son has seen me partially nude.
He doesn’t care.
Like Lenny Bruce said, “I don’t want my child thinking theres something shameful about the human body>”
He doesn’t even want to see me.
Like Incu said, if its forbidden, that only makes it sem more interesting.
Howeve,r he is such a typical GUY, that he likes to moon people.
So far, its only been my parents…
I was listening to Dr. Laura on KFI. Her snotty and sarcastic attitude repulse me but, I’ve always found her message to be chalked full of logic and common sense. Until… I heard her tell a caller that it is inappropriate for a mother to wear a bikini bathing suit in front of her children. I couldn’t believe it. It doesn’t matter how thin or fat the mother is, how old her children are, what the suit looks like…it’s not appropriate. When I heard that, I knew how much she would disapprove of me. My little boy, Garrett, is 7 years old, and we still take baths together, all the time.
my 2 sisters and i would usually spend early mornings in our parents bed up til we were 8 or 9. my parents sleep in the nude, or in t-shirts.
i would ONLY let my father wash my hair until i was 3. yes, we bathed together.
doesn’t seem to have screwed me up too much.
6 people in one house with one bathroom meant a lot of chats while one person bathed or showered and the other brushed teeth, did make-up, waxed legs, whatever.
we go on holiday to europe every year and usually my mum, sisters and i sunbathe topless. it’s not that big a deal when everyone else is as well, and it’s absolutely NOT sexual.
in and of them selves i don’t find naked bodies sexual, only in the right circumstances. anyone who has ever dissected a body will probably say the same.
I think it’s a matter of “nudity = sex” in a lot of people’s eyes. Until January I never really walked around naked, because my 20-year-old stepson lived here. Now, though, I’m trying to get UsED to walking around naked. If I’m in my own house with no one but my immediate family, I feel like walking around naked should be no big deal. My problem is I spent my entire 20s living with stepkids, so I never got used to the idea of being an ADULT walking around naked.
Sometimes my 7-year-old thinks it’s hysterical to grab my breasts and make them go “boingy boingy.” He doesn’t think of doing this to strangers or other female relatives. I make him stop because it’s annoying.
I’m trying to teach the kids that nudity has its time and place, and that in one’s own home with family is one of them. The idea that one has to be fully clothed around people who have either been into OR come out of your own body seems ridiculous to me.
I dunno, the niece taking a shower with her aunt doesn’t seem that weird to me. I have several older female cousins and we often shared rooms, changed clothes together, etc. I think its good for kids to get an idea of what nekkid people look like. Makes it less mystifying. I especially think it makes sense for girls to know what naked women look like and boys naked men. Seeing my mom and aunts and cousins naked taught me that women come in all shapes and sizes and that it’s really not normal for most women to look like Playboy Bunnies.
Exactly!!! I’ve gone from one extreme to the other. Even tho I shared a room with my sister for 18 years, I never changed in front of her, nor she in front of me. It just wasn’t done. First time I had to use the community shower in Junior High PE class was unnerving. By the time I got into the Navy, I didn’t care any more. My kid is going thru a very modest stage, but she doesn’t seem to have a problem being around me when I’m in the buff. We’ve discussed nudity. I always tell her, like Biggirl said, “It’s just skin…”
Just last week, I was thinking about the house we’re going to build in a couple of years - it’s got a big window in the front that will give a view all the way thru the living room and dining to the kitchen in the back. Window coverings will be important since that window will be within 30 feet of the road and I’m apt to be wandering around the house in underwear or less. I’m not sure the new neighbors would appreciate my unencumbered attitude.
