I’m a 30 year old man, married with two children: a 2 week old boy, and a 2 year old girl.
I generally sleep in the nude, and sometimes walk around the house in the nude, but as the children get older, I want to be appropriately nude.
I’m not ashamed of my body, and I want my children to be comfortable with their bodies- not to think nakedness is dirty. But where is the line drawn?
I’m not sure what age this comes, but I think that when a child starts becoming aware of personal space (i.e., the nice teacher should not be touching me in these parts) he/she also needs to know what parts are private and which ones are okay to show to the public. So, sometime shortly before this would be a good time to start concealing your really private parts from your child.
I don’t really think your child will think that nudity is dirty or wrong if you wear your boxers around the house instead of hanging out completely naked. Hell, I’ve never seen my father in less than his shorts (and I mean real shorts, not underwear). Ever. And I’m pretty un-screwed up as far as nudity and sex go (at least I think so).
You do need to get the lesson across, though, that there are private parts in order for the kids to understand that those parts are theirs and no one else’s to touch without their permission. IMHO
ew ew ew icky
Since when did MY private parts in the privacy of MY home become public?
Yes, you will have to talk to the little ones about public/private sectors of society. They need to know the difference between being at home and being in school for example. I don’t think that requires you to hide anything from them at home. That requires teaching them the difference between private and public and WHO may touch them as well as where it is appropriate to touch other people.
I don’t think a 2 year old girl needs to be seeing her father nude, even in the most innocent of circumstances, if it can be avoided.
I’m with C3 on the boxers theory. As long as you’re not telling the kids “being naked is bad, it’s dirty, etc.” I doubt they will get the impression that nudity must be a bad thing because they never see Daddy without clothing on.
I despise clothes, as you might guess from my handle. My kids (5 boys) are accustomed to seeing me without clothes although I will put something on when we have company.
I’ve never encouraged them one way or the other but I haven’t seen any of them naked since I quit changing their diapers or bathing them.
Their choice, as it should be.
They don’t WANT to see you nude! Especially as you get older and/or fail to keep yourself in shape.
My father would often get distracted by some thought he’d had, and come out to talk to my mother about it without bothering to finish dressing. It was not a pleasant experience for my sister and I, who shared the basic opinion: “Yuck! Nobody wants to see that!”
Unless you are a remarkable specimen of physical perfection, put some clothes on.
It’s a cultural thing.
Personally, I think as long as everyone is comfortable with the situation, situationally appropriate nudity is fine. I am not sure my nine-year-old son knows the meaning of the word “modesty” yet (this is one part of puberty that will be an improvement!), but I am very sure I’m not comfortable being nude in front of him, so I make sure I never am. On the other hand, I don’t care if the three-year-old sees me in the nude, so I’m less careful about covering up when he is around (without his older brother).
I find it very sad that paternal nudity, especially in front of girls who are still in or just barely out of diapers, has gotten so wrapped up in the States with fear of molestation.
I really don’t see why this is such a problem. From childhood I was used to seeing my mother naked, it never seemed strange or “icky” to me. As she raised me on her own, though, I was 10 before I saw a man naked (walked in on an uncle at the wrong moment) and the shock was so great that I hid behind the sideboard for an hour. At least if your daughter’s used to seeing you naked she’ll be spared the horror of an “OMG WHAT IS THAT??!!” MOMENT!
I was brought up in a family where nudity wasn’t a problem. My parents and I were not abashed about it. You only sexualise the issue by making it taboo. Never did me any harm.
::twitch::
::twitch::
There’s nothing objective about our attitude towards nudity; it is entirely cultural and conditioned. If we had happened to be brought up in a hypothetical society where noses were always kept covered, we would feel exactly the same about exposing our nostrils, or seeing the exposed nostrils of someone else, or the dangers or otherwise of young children looking at noses.
My daughter, who is 4, sees me naked all the time - getting out of the shower, getting out of bed in the morning, getting dressed. I don’t make a big deal out of it, and just go about my business of putting on my clothes, bathrobe, etc. Doesn’t seem to faze either one of us.
My wife and I go to nude beaches and resorts and their are always kids there with their parents. Everyone seems perfectly comfortable with it - no awkwardness, blushing, etc. Its just skin.
We never really made a big deal out of nudity. I made a concious decision to be nude less around the kids when they started trying to poke my “private parts” (which they thought was hilarious). Both of them understand about privacy, since we taught them to, and now are relaxed about nudity but aren’t often nude around each other, except for bath time.
Mom of two boys here–I’m pretty unabashed about nudity around the kidlets myself. They’re still quite young though (2 and 5 months). For the most part the toddler doesn’t even seem to notice, although since the baby came and I’ve been nursing he (the toddler) has developed a bit of a facination with my breasts. I think that’s more out of a feeling that anything that baby spends so much time doing must be good, and so why is he missing out? 
As they get older I’m sure to become a bit more modest around them, probably more for thier sake, as Vlad said, than my own. I don’t ever see myself being hyper-vigilant about it though–as in “OMG I’m about to change my shirt, lock the door, turn out the light and do it as quickly as possible”.
Maybe if our children were seeing more actual live bodies in their lives instead of just the taut abs and toned arms of the current pop-culture primadonnas there would be a bit less body anxiety and fewer eating disorders among our young. JMO.
I have an 8 year old son, a 6 year old daughter, a 3 year old daughter, and two step- daughters who are 13 and 11.
I don’t feel uncomfortable being nude around any of them.
However, I have started making sure I am covered up in front of my son lately. He is getting to that age where he is embarassed. I do not want him to feel uncomfortable.
Thanks for the replies, guys. Sounds like most of us are on the same wavelength.
I have the same situation as plnnr: daughter (4), sees me naked occasionally as part of my morning routine. No big deal, it’s not like I run around naked most of the time. My son (7) is a little nudist all his own and removes most of his clothes as soon as he gets home. I figure that unless you make it a big deal, it won’t be. Answer questions where appropriate and in a context they’ll understand. If they (or you) are uncomfortable with nudity, adjust their/your habits to where it’s not a problem.
My parents were pretty uptight about being seen nude around the house but my maternal grandparents weren’t. My grandfather would walk around the house buck naked at the age of 75, usually from his bath to the laundry room, I suppose he had no use for clothes hangers. I was always worried someone would see them through the windows or something.
AH Jeez! Forget about what’s appropriate and what’s not appropiate. For your own childs sanity put some damn clothes on. My mom and Dad were hippies and I still have vivid images of them nude. Hence forth I am mentaly scared for life.
BTW I am halfway kidding.
I think at this young age it’s okay to run from the bathroom to the bedroom sans clothes, since they are so young. You don’t want to stop to put on some jeans when you hear a blood-curdling scream from the other end of the house.
But I think as children get older it is not appropriate to see the parent of the opposite sex unclothed. It’s not a matter of comfort with their bodies, but more a sense of modesty and what is appropriate and when.
I’ve got an almost-12 year old daughter and a 13.5 year old son. They see me in my jockeys almost daily. I’m not at all comfortable with the idea that my daughter would ever see me in the altogether, and rarely has my son.
HOWEVER- if that is a lifestyle choice that a child grows up with, then I do believe that the mindset would be radically different from the one mine have now. It’d be a heck of a shock to lil daughter. OTOH, I allow them to set their privacy limits. Son is okay walking around in boxers and a t shirt, daughter isn’t. Cool. She’s old enough to chose her level of privacy, and have the rest of us respect it without question.
Cartooniverse