letting my children run around naked on a beach

[Goofymum]

A few days ago I took my 2 year old DD and 5 year old DD to the beach. It is a lovely beach and not very crowded, only 2 or 3 groups of people per large section of beach. I let my DDs run around naked for while before we went home (they asked to go naked). My parents were with me and they weren't bothered. The few families left on the beach weren't bothered either. But when my DH heard about it he was horrified. He said my 5 year old (she is very tall, perhaps passes for 6?) is too old to run around naked, other people would feel uncomfortable and it's just not right. We 'debated' it for a while and I thought I'd get the opinion of sensible people on MN - did I have a big lapse in judgement or was it OK to let my DDs run around naked?!

I have to say I wouldn't like it at all and I think men feel constantly under scrutiny because of the sensationalism over paedophilia and therefore I absolutely know my DH would feel uncomfortable.
I not sure why it's neccesary for kids to go naked?

seems to be a lot of grave digging on MN just lately

PML at megglechav

Sorry need to defend myself here

Nov 5 is not middle of winter, it was a fairly mild evening with a roaring hot fire.

People where a couple of neighbours, a few fiends we knew a long time, my parents, my sister and her family

scoobytoo it is just the paranoia of the UK, virtually everywhere else in the world it is not an issue

I think it is a healthy thing to do- as long as it isn't at 12 noon in the middle of summer, they are boosting their vitamin D every time the sun is on their skin,and it is a lovely thing for them to enjoy having the sun/sea on their skin before they get much older and start to develop hangups about being naked. I think it is a shame for adults to make children feel self conscious about their bodies by insisting they cover up if the children are happy with it, not getting sunburnt, and it isn't hurting/bothering anyone else.

My question is why do people feel its not right embarrassing or unreasonable its not about modesty or dignity for a 5 year old its about your DH perceptions of the human body and by the looks of it quite a few others including my own DH let them run about naked on the beach as long as its warm enough minus 6 here at the mo so unlikely in the near future and they are protected from the sun.

Slightly on a tangent (and I know a bit odd to be thinking about these things for those of us in the UK right now...)...but was just thinking about how silly, impractical and sexualising bikinis on little girls are.

last summer I was in Italy, where all the prepubescent Italian and French girls on the beach and round the pool wore bikini bottoms.

The British girls wore bikinis which rode up around their necks because they had nothing to keep them in place, or onepieces - which usually fit properly for about a month or two in the intervening period between being too saggy and too tight.

And as for girls swim nappies with a halterneck panel...what is the point of that? Presumably more people than just Firawa are thinking about 'modesty and dignity' on little kids.

As a kid in the 70s I wore trunks. I wonder why more parents don't let their/ girls don't wear bikini bottoms/swim shorts for longer out of babyhood. I guess its just not the done thing in the UK.

My parents used to let us run around naked. To this day, I still have relations and neighbours that taunt me about it. Apparently I used to run through the fields naked, don't know because I can't remember.

I don't find it a bit amusing - in fact it upsets me. Even an elderly bachelor commented about it at my mother's funeral (perverted, I know!) to me in front of a load of people - thankfully nobody laughed.

As a result, I don't allow my children to be naked publicly at any time.

I don't think YABU. I think you can follow the lead of the child in this respect - ie when they are conscious of, and are uncomfortable, being naked in public, is when you need to respect their "dignity" My ds's are younger than this, but a lot of friends report that around 6/7 their DC's wouldn't want to be naked in public anyway.

It is hard to imagine when DS1 has no compunction about humping the sofa in company, that he will ever have any modesty at all

Ooh didn't realise it was an old thread...assumed it was a post from abroad

Same here SalFresco!

I personally would allow it, and it makes me feel uncomfortable / judgey at parents (because of who might be on beach looking), maybe ok for a toddler, esp if a boy, but by 5/6 esp for a girl, totally not appropriate, pair of knickers enough though.

Hi everyone - I'm very new here but I hope it's okay for me to post here as I am a single male from the U.K. (please see my profile page) and not a parent. I really only wanted to share my thoughts about little kids being naked on beaches as I went to a beach on our near record breaking 1st October heatwave day this year!

Well a family with 2 little girls, oldest nearly 3 and the youngest about 20 months settled near me where they got the various beach things ready. The kids were quite happy and eager to play in the sand and sea so the youngest stood by Daddy and the eldest stood by Mummy and asked to be undressed. Once the kids' bodies were stripped completely and applied with suntan lotion they happily frolicked around and used their buckets and spades to build sandcastles.

Now to me this is a lovely scene of childhood innocence but because of all the paranoia and over-hype surrounding naked kids = paedophilia, I felt a little awkward and uncomfortable seeing them playing in an area quite close to where I was sitting. It probably sounds silly but I was afraid that the parents may think that because I was on my own and therefore single, I was likely a pervert who gets off ogling little naked girls who may even try taking photos of them. Because of this I may have felt less awkward if the children kept their knickers on.

I've heard that C.R.B. checks are good for giving the all clear to people for some activities where adults come into contact with children but sometimes they are just unnecessary and are a waste of time. However, if there was a law where single people (males in particular) had to undergo a C.R.B. check before visiting a beach on their own, I would have been quite happy to have undergone a full police C.R.B. check for that purpose. Why? Because not only would it give families peace of mind when adult males are close by on the beach but also I'd feel a lot more comfortable being around little children in various states of undress with the knowledge that I've been checked that I haven't committed any sexual offences to children.

Thanks for reading,

David

[mconfused]... what a strange post to a subject a yea old

@oldmerryolesoul:

Oh, sorry about that, I've only just noticed the post before mine is nearly a year ago!

Sorry about the 'weirdness' of the post but just really wanted to express my feelings from a 'single male' point of view if that makes any sense.

Thanks,

David

Rampant outbreak of weirdness alert!

Why can't these people watch telly, go for a pint, lie down in a darkened room? Anything but subject us to this dredged up piffle!

And pull the other one 'David' - it's got Christmas effin bells on.