If you don’t like hypos, why are you still reading? There must be an NFL thread open someplace.
Today’s story is about Anne, a middle-class, fifty-something woman a son she loves, a daughter-in-law she likes, and grandkids she adores. Samuel and Leda are in their late twenties; their kids are Sam Jr., age nine, and twins Helen and Clytemnestra, five. As much as Anne loves the grandkids more than ice cream, though until recently she rarely saw them, as she only moved to the city where Sam & company live six months ago.
Recently Anne was called on to babysit the kids because Samuel was in the hospital for emergency surgery. On the night of the operation she got to bed after four a.m., and so did not wake the next day until noon. The kids were already up. Having been raised to be fairly independent, Sam had already gotten them all breakfast and was now swordfighting with an imaginary opponent; Helen was inexpertly trying to clean the mess they’d made in the kitchen (but in fact making it worse); Clytemnestra was watching cartoons. None of that bothered Anne–but the fact that all three were naked as jaybirds did.
Anne immediately told them to get dressed. Sam & Helen obeyed instantly; Cly whined throughout. But Sam’s obedience, though quick, was still grudging. “We hardly ever wear clothes at home,” he said. “Not if it’s just us. Mom and Dad say we only gotta put on clothes if people are coming over or if we’re going outside.”
Helen and Cly confirm their brother’s account, and Helen clarifies that “outside” means “outside the fence”–that is, the ten-foot-tall privacy fence that surrounds their house. Inside the fence, weather permitting, they merely have to wear shoes. Otherwise the kids are allowed to be naked at their own home (and at the home of Leda’s parents) pretty much whenever they choose; their parents and maternal grandparents are naked most of the time as well.
Anne is disturbed by this. Oh, she doesn’t suspect molestation; she is absolutely certain that her son would never do such a thing, and reasonably sure Leda wasn’t either. (That said, she’s sure that the domestic nudity is Leda’s fault; she’s always thought her stepdaughter was sort of a hippie, though she’s never said so out loud.) But she thinks that Sam Jr. in particular is too old to be regularly exposed to a naked female body, and she worries that about what will happen if, say, one of the twins is frightened at night and need to sleep in her parents bed.
Would you share Anne’s concerns? If so, what would you do? If not, why not?
