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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think pants are a minimum when outside?

84 replies

Mindexplode · 09/08/2015 08:01

At a large play area yesterday that has sand and water as well as climbing activities. most children in shorts and t shirts, swimming costumes or pants. one little boy (maybe 3 or 4) was in just a t shirt. He was seen to be weeing in the sand that children were playing in and climbing all over the equipment. surely from a hygiene factor he should have been wearing pants as a bare minimum. what if he had got a splinter?

OP posts:
BocaDeTrucha · 09/08/2015 14:15

To the pp who said "there's no need", of course there isn't. But we don't always do things because we need to. Some of us let our children be naked because of lots of reasons - mainly because they're just kids and they don't have to adhere to the social norms as adults do.

And as for the comment about denying them their dignity.....wtf????? What does my toddler know about dignity and how is his being naked undignified?????

Justwhy · 09/08/2015 14:16

You let her wear a bikini Shock you really have destroyed her childhood. No bikinis until she is 21.

eggyface · 09/08/2015 14:16

Naked on shared outdoor play equipment - probably fine as long as parent keeps an eye, stops them weeing or pooing and has plentiful goes with baby wipes to make sure both child and equipment are left clean. If the parents you saw were not doing that it's grotty, just like letting a kid wee in a shop or rub biscuits on the sofa in a cafe or whatever.

Decency question - we should preserve the normality of toddlers running naked, against a rising tide of weird sexualised prudish idiots who think there's something wrong inherently about it. I probably wouldn't have taken DS'S pants off in public but I'm going to now! It IS the 1970s dammit, if by that you mean an innocent time when people didn't think about sex all the time. Let's keep it going! Hurrah!

eggyface · 09/08/2015 14:19

also - do swim nappies not capture wee? What, then, is the point of them?

BocaDeTrucha · 09/08/2015 14:24

eggyface, couldn't agree more!!!!!

Also, potty trained or not, doesn't stop them peering in water anyway. Just today I caught a little boy, about 5ish, getting his penis out of his trunks and peeing in the kid's pool where I'm on holiday . First time I've ever had to jump off my sunbed and have a word with someone else's kid! Mum was no where to be seen!

BocaDeTrucha · 09/08/2015 14:25

Peeing, not peering!!!!

PunkrockerGirl · 09/08/2015 14:34

What does my toddler know about dignity

Nothing of course. Which is why we, as adults, act on their behalf.

orangefive · 09/08/2015 14:51

How hard is it to have a spare set of clothes when you take a child out. Pure laziness. Naked children in public is not nice in my opinion for hygiene and safety reasons. I would be less inclined to intervene with a naked child because I wouldn't want to 'watch them' too closely and let's face it parents who are too lazy to dress their children are probably too lazy to supervise them too. The phrase freedom to play naked is ludicrous surely! I wonder if any of you toddler nudity fans are also fans of page 3 girls too? Is adult nudity any different?

EastMidsMummy · 09/08/2015 14:55

A small child that's going to shit and piss in play equipment needs a nappy.

A small child that doesn't should be free to... run free.

What hygiene issues are there if the child is continent?? None.

BocaDeTrucha · 09/08/2015 15:00

Yep, I'm definitely one of those "too lazy to dress my children" or whatever you want to call it, orange. What a load of judgemental, cat's bum bollocks! If there was a page 3 man for every page 3 girl, in happy with that. But I don't read that type of paper so why should I care?

GwendolineMaryLacey · 09/08/2015 15:35

The weeing isn't good but I can't find anything in a naked toddler running round a playground to give a toss about. Love the imagery of all hype revoltingly germy bums being dragged round the play equipment. Little children's bottoms are beautifully clean usually, because someone else is doing the wiping. Therefore no problem. No need for dramatics.

Sallyhasleftthebuilding · 09/08/2015 16:36

Decency means to conform to the acceptable norm. If it was acceptable to let children run round naked in parks, then more children would be doing it. Some adults are uncomfortable with naked children, some parents are uncomfortable with it. If it means putting pants on your child so everyone is comfortable, then why wouldnt you? You all seem to notice the naked child, they stand out because its unusual.

Floggingmolly · 09/08/2015 17:29

But the child in question wasn't continent, East; he wee'd in the bloody playsand!

Whether because he genuinely couldn't hold it or because he'd never been taught where it was appropriate to just let loose... Makes no odds, really. The end result was the same.

Sparklingbrook · 09/08/2015 17:33

I would not have let my two run around naked weeing all over the place in a public area and would have been Hmm at any parent allowing it TBH.

Only1scoop · 09/08/2015 19:31

So would I Spark let alone a 3 and 4 year old.

Sparklingbrook · 09/08/2015 19:32

Grin Only, I haven't seen my two naked for years. I am quite glad.

Only1scoop · 09/08/2015 19:34

Long past the temptation of naked wee's in sandpits then Spark BlushGrin

Sparklingbrook · 09/08/2015 19:37

Oh I really hope so, or at 16 is it about to start again? Shock

Only1scoop · 09/08/2015 19:40

Spark I'd monitor it ....

Mummybare · 09/08/2015 19:50

I agree with eggy and EastMids, I can't see any 'hygiene issue' with a naked potty trained preschooler. I do think he shouldn't have been allowed to wee in the sand, of course, but perhaps he normally is potty trained, his parent/carer just wasn't watching as closely as they should have been.

Oh, and swim nappies are meant to catch poo, eggy. They can't catch wee because if they were absorbent, they'd blow up and weigh the kid down as soon as they got in the pool. Worth remembering (or perhaps not) when you swim in a pool with lots of babies/toddlers...

DixieNormas · 09/08/2015 19:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sallyingforth · 09/08/2015 21:10

pedos are barred from being near playgrounds - and other child areas-for good reason. But they are still going there- so maybe that is a good reason to cover up bums etc.

Rapists shouldn't be hanging around dark streets, but they do. So maybe that is a good reason for women not to go out alone...

BeaufortBelle · 10/08/2015 09:20

They can only be banned if they have been caught. More a reason to accompany and supervise than to ban nakedness.

MiaowTheCat · 10/08/2015 09:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Notso · 10/08/2015 09:49

Bare bottoms on play equipment is gross.