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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think we have a weird thing about child nakedness in the UK?

95 replies

Pantone363 · 01/07/2013 11:05

On the beach yesterday. 3 families getting their children changed into swimming suits/uv suits/bio hazard no suns getting through this sucker suits. All huddling around the children (small children, not teens) one parent holding up towels whilst the other gets them changed.

I'm biased because until 5 yrs old my kids are usually naked on the beach, but they seem so scared that someone might see a glimpse of naked child skin.

Also dads sitting on the beach with shoes on. All day. WHY?

OP posts:
bebanjo · 01/07/2013 11:17

Iam with you you on this one. Last hot spell in the park all the kids from the same clube so all know each other. My dd 6years old strips down to her pants, I spray her with sun block but one of the other children little girl 6years old tells my dd to put something on as my dd's nakedness was making her uncofterble, there 6. When I was 6 I went swimming in my pants. She wasn't even naked.

mignonette · 01/07/2013 11:19

Try America- I was 'told off' by a beach security guard for allowing my baby son to wander about naked albeit head to toe smeared in sun block and behatted. Very squeamish about nakedness there. Could wander about with half a dozen guns hanging between my legs if I wanted though.

QueenofallIsee · 01/07/2013 11:20

I have no problem with little kids being naked but perhaps it is to do with the children? My youngest son, since the age of about 2, has had a thing about privacy and being covered except with me and his dad. My other 3 let it all hang out and always have but I respect that not all my kids are the same and give him his dignity.

Shoes on the beach though, clearly the act of a FREAK.

LastTangoInDevonshire · 01/07/2013 11:21

They were probably MNers who have been influenced by the paedo-round-every-corner brigade that seem to be on here a lot of the time, and dive in on any thread they can.

PrettyKitty1986 · 01/07/2013 11:24

Tbf I think it's odd. Why is it necessary to let a child/baby wander around naked?

Just put a pair of pants on them. Whenever I see completely naked kids on the beach (as in continuously, not just when changing) it always seems to me like the parents are attempting to make some sort of weird point.

Yonihadtoask · 01/07/2013 11:27

I don't' care if little kids are naked. Let them be. Although a pair of pants is a good idea, as sand can get in places it shouldn't be and cause irritation.

All the hiding behind towels just draws more attention to the person getting changed anyway.

Original poster
Pantone363 · 01/07/2013 11:28

I am making a point. That my 3 yr old who lives being naked has the right to run around on the beach and feel the sun on her skin without being run off by a fear of the bogey man

OP posts:
icklemssunshine1 · 01/07/2013 11:30

I had this conversation at work recently. When I was in nursery (in 1980!) we would in hot days strip off & play in the paddling pool (t'was a huge castle - fab!). My nursery was on a main road so ANYONE could have seen us but no-one cared. Not sure whether that was a good or bad thing as these days we are made to believe there is a "danger" on every corner.

lachrymavitis · 01/07/2013 11:32

PrettyKitty - because it feels nice? because it's less hassle? I certainly wouldn't force a child to be naked if they didn't want to but if the weather is good I find it hard to get my children to keep their clothes on.

A lot of children enjoy being naked. If you're in an appropriate environment such as garden, beach etc then why not?

PrettyKitty1986 · 01/07/2013 11:34

You don't need to be naked to feel the sun on your skin.

Personally I find it weird that some parents feel the need to make a point over it, but there you go.

TigOldBitties · 01/07/2013 11:36

I was at the beach yesterday and I saw quite a few naked children, all under maybe 5 or 6.

Didn't see much of this changing fuss you've mentioned, in fact I only noticed adults or older children having this help.

I don't think it's wrong to afford the same level of privacy to children as adults and I also can't see why people don't just but some pants on kids.

It seems strange to me that we'd all be a bit Hmm about older nudity but think nothing of letting a child be exposed to a beach full of people.

PrettyKitty1986 · 01/07/2013 11:38

Less hassle than a pair of swim pants?

Just because they're children doesn't mean they can/should be able to be naked wherever they are.

My children wander around naked at home. Yet I don't allow them to walk down the street naked. It has nothing to do with a 'peedo emergency' mindset.

curlew · 01/07/2013 11:38

Prettykitty - have you considered what point you are making by insisting on pants?

Sirzy · 01/07/2013 11:38

Does it matter? If parents want to let their children run around naked then fine. If they want to get the changed behind a towel then fine.

That said, even covered in suncream I wouldn't be letting them run around naked for too long, being covered in light clothes is a much safer way when it comes to sun safety.

DS always has some sort of sandal on on the beach, to many people think its ok to leave rubbish lying around to let him run around barefooted.

cory · 01/07/2013 11:39

But quite possibly they don't feel the need to make a point: they are just happy to let their dc be whichever way they feel comfortable.

To me, a toddler running around naked doesn't carry some kind of deep significance, any more than a toddler wearing pants and a shirt. They are emotionally neutral.

So, as long as there was no risk from sunburn, my default position would be to let toddler do whatever s/he wants.

It only becomes a marked choice if we can all agree that covering a toddler up is the normal and natural position and that allowing them to be without clothes is so odd that it must be due to some ulterior motive. Not everybody thinks like that.

Hasitfallendownagain · 01/07/2013 11:39

I have noticed that my 6 year old dd crosses her arms over her chest when getting changed at swimming or ballet. She isn't so shy about people seeing her bottom or pants, but she doesn't even like me to see her chest Sad.

I assume it is something she has picked up from her classmates - I certainly hope she hasn't somehow got it from me or her dad. But there you go, she wants privacy and not to run around topless, up to me as her parent to respect that, imo.

Jan49 · 01/07/2013 11:39

I don't want to see other people's naked children on a beach. I feel I ought to look in a different direction in case parents think I'm deliberately looking at their child. I think they should at least be wearing pants. I assume no parent carefully covers their child's genitals in sun cream every few hours so either you cover your child up, preferably in more than pants, or you are exposing them to the sun. Clothing is a much more effective sun protection than sun cream.

I have photos from the 1930s of my mum as a child on a beach with her parents on holiday. In all of them my granddad is wearing a full suit and tie and I don't think either parent took their shoes off.Smile

cory · 01/07/2013 11:40

PrettyKitty1986 Mon 01-Jul-13 11:38:29

"Just because they're children doesn't mean they can/should be able to be naked wherever they are."

Why not? Why does it matter? Why should it matter? Why does it worry you if you are not thinking about paedos?

PrettyKitty1986 · 01/07/2013 11:42

I suppose it's the same point I'd be making if df decided to lose the trunks and take a strut up at down a packed beach naked.

I'd tell him to put them back on. Because it's unnecessary.

WorraLiberty · 01/07/2013 11:44

If kids are happy to run around naked on the beach, they should be allowed to.

As long as the parents don't clutch their pearls, if they get in the way of someone's camera shot.

Some kids hate the restrictive feeling of swimsuits anyway.

PrettyKitty1986 · 01/07/2013 11:47

It doesn't 'worry me' Cory.

I just don't let them walk around completely naked in public.

Presumably then if your young child started stripping off in a shopping centre on a hot day because they are afterall, more comfortable naked...you would let them?

Afterall, what sort of point would you be making to insist they kept their clothes on?

cantspel · 01/07/2013 11:47

I dont want to see naked people whether they be children or adults on the beach.

Fine in your own garden but dont inflict it on others. And it has nothing to do with being a prude or thinking a pedo is under every rock. Just put some pants on or better still a proper sunsuit which will protect their skin much better than a coating of sunscreen.

cantspel · 01/07/2013 11:50

Worra some kids hate eating vegetables but it doesn't mean we dont make them eat them. Same with uv suits they might not like them but it is better than exposing them to the risks of skin cancer.

lurcherlover · 01/07/2013 11:52

DS is 2.8 and does toddler swimming classes. They have strict rules about swim nappies (children have to have a disposable swim nappy on, topped with a splashabout nappy). I am puzzled that a lot of the mums put their toddler daughters in the swimnappy, and then top it off with a swimsuit. Why?? I understand that a 3 or 4 year old might want to wear one because they're pretty, but a 12 month old or even a 2 year old isn't bothered about that. Why can't a 12 month old baby girl's chest be exposed?

cory · 01/07/2013 11:55

To me a beach is rather different from a shopping centre: fwiw I wouldn't let mine wear a swimsuit in the shopping centre either.

I never realised that other people are inflicting their naked 2yos on me. How exactly do they do that?

Do other people really have the same reactions when they see a naked 2yo as when they see a naked 45yo? I don't.