To ask about nakedness in front of dc

[Whatafustercluck]

I've always gone on the basis that as soon as your child feels uncomfortable around you being naked, you should start covering up/ closing the door when dressing or bathing. Ds is 9 and not remotely bothered but I'm starting to wonder if this is weird/ out of step with others. We don't parade around naked for no reason of course, but he will frequently see us naked getting dressed/ undressed morning/ night. How open are you with your kids and what age did that stop? I've seen some experts say that it may be inappropriate from 5 which has concerned me tbh.

[IStandByJKR]

I should hope not @EnthusiasmIsDisturbed that sounds terribly dangerous

[99victoria]

My parents were very open about being naked around the house - not just for the sake of it, but we never locked the bathroom door in our family until my sister got her first serious boyfriend who came to visit!
I would often go and chat to my mum when she was in the bath.
Fortunately, my children's dad came from a similar family so we were never concerned about nakedness around our house when they were growing up. Obviously, if they'd said they were uncomfortable we would have adjusted our behaviour but we had 2 girls and a boy and it was never a problem - neither we nor our kids ever closed the bathroom door when we were having a bath or shower. They're all adults now but are still not bothered about coming into my room to chat if i'm dressing etc. I think it's just a case of what you're used to.

[Pebblexox]

My daughter is 18 months, and I don't think she's seen me naked since she was around 6 months. It's not that I go out of my way to hide it, but I shower when she's in bed and I always get ready for the day before she's out of bed.
For me personally my naked body is a private thing, I've never been super comfortable being naked though so that could be why. As she gets older I will teach her that her body is her own to decide what she wants to do with it, but there is nothing wrong with keeping things private either if that's a choice.

[HoppingPavlova]

My sons are 18 and 21 and will happily walk into our bedroom when we're naked or go into the bathroom and chat to me while I am in the bath. It's no big deal.

Yes, another one who is similar. Over 20 years of get my naked in front of my kids of both genders. We do the nudie walk from shower to bedroom to get dressed (we all cbf walking back to bathroom with the wet towel). No one has ever expressed discomfort. We don’t shut the door to the bathroom while showering or on the loo. No idea why, it’s never been a thing. I have a son in his 20’s who will still come in the bathroom while I am in the shower yelling over the water ‘mum, where’s my footy shorts’ etc. None of them seem scarred by it or have been done for public nudity so it hadn’t encouraged them to go full frontal in public.

The only exception is if we have visitors, then loo doors closed and people take clothes into bathroom so come out clothed from the shower. A hassle and I hate having people over simply because of this.

[SimonJT]

Depends on the child. We’re very much a naked family, my son is five, he’ll often get in the shower with me, wander in while I’m on the toilet, get in bed when he knows I’m not in pjs etc. We would usually go swimming once a week so he would see me and other people naked in the changing rooms. He knows if I’m in my room or the bathroom I’m pretty much guaranteed to be naked, so if knows if he doesn’t want to see me naked then don’t walk in.

I prefer being naked, usually indoors I just wear pants, if we have visitors I put a pair of shorts on, once my son is in bed they sometimes come off as well.

It doesn’t mean children don’t have boundaries, now my boyfriend is here he checks that it isn’t him in the bathroom and he knows if he comes into my room at night that my boyfriend is in pjs if the door is unlocked. If its just us in the flat he’ll happily run around naked, as my boyfriend is here he’ll put pants on instead. He knows that I’ll walk in while he is in his room, bathroom etc but he knows that my boyfriend will always knock and ask if he can come in.

[WaffleCash]

We never grew out of it in our house. Nobody was randomly wandering about the house naked, but going from bedroom to bathroom naked was pretty normal and using the shower whilst someone else was at the sink etc.

[Hoppinggreen]

green it was 4 years ago and obviously we removed DS immediately and apologised profusely to the girl and I mentioned it to her Mum as well.
I don’t see how we don’t respect DDs wishes. We always wear clothes unless leaving the bathroom and walking the 4 or 5 steps to our bedroom. She is in her own room at this point and would only see us naked if she just happened to come out at that exact moment that happens once every couple of days and only when it’s too hot for PJs
She has probably see me and DH naked by accident once in the last few years (not at the same time) and DS more often, at which point she usually just laughs and tells him to go and put some clothes on
I totally respect her boundaries

[theprincessmittens]

I've never seen either of my parents naked...which I'm eternally thankful for.

[JingleCatJingle]

We do low level nudity.
I am not uncomfortable about my children seeing me naked. It’s better they have an accurate idea of what women and men look like before the internet tries to twist their perception.

[crispysausagerolls]

Bleurgh, I have to say to some of these posters I would
Feel
Really uncomfortable being totally naked in bed and having my child climb in!

[greentreesdream]

But your ds is 11 hopping? Year 6/7? I just can’t get my head around that, and it must be embarrassing for his sister. Sorry, I don’t mean to sound overly critical but I suppose this is where something can become normal in a family but from the outside is perhaps not quite as much so.

[WaffleCash]

But your ds is 11 hopping? Year 6/7? I just can’t get my head around that, and it must be embarrassing for his sister.

If you read more carefully you will see that this incident happened when her ds was 6 and the dd was 11.

[vanillandhoney]

@Hoppinggreen

DS is 11 and will happily be naked and see us naked, although when he gets into bed with me for a cuddle he prefers me to be wearing something. He did used to be a bit too happy naked but as he’s getting older we’ve managed to get him to cover up a bit more. Once when DD was about 11 and DS 6 she had a friend staying the friend was cleaning her teeth and DS walked into the bathroom naked and sat on the loo naked for a chat!
Dd doesn’t like it and hasn’t since she was around 7 or 8 so we respect her wishes to a certain extent - we don’t walk around naked but if we are getting out of the shower or going to the loo from the bedroom we probably don’t cover up
It’s what everyone is comfortable with really

Christ, this is so inappropriate.

[Hoppinggreen]

DS is 11, yes so Y6
To put it in context DH is from a country where nudity is much more acceptable, I had a few nasty shocks involving Mil when we me and DH first got together and my poor Mum saw DH naked quite early in our relationship! However, DH has now adapted to a more “British “ way of doing things, although he still finds me wresting with a towel to get changed at the beach quite amusing.
DS does not walk round naked anymore in general but if he wants to nip to the loo in the morning before going back to bed then he’s got every right to do that. If DD was genuinely distressed by that it’s something we would have to discuss. And nobody is naked if we have company - I remind DH to put PJs on if either of the DC have a sleepover guest, although as we have a ensuite it’s not likely he would be naked anywhere other than our bedroom.
There is a big difference between being naked and not rushing to cover and deliberately taking your clothes off.

[Idontbelieveit12]

He was only 6!

[Karenenya]

I was once getting changed in daughter's bathroom when grandson aged 3 walked in, and said, surprised, 'Gran, you're wearing your body!'

[Jebel]

I find it weird that people are uncomfortable with it as a principle. I get that individuals are uncomfortable with their own bodies being seen, that's different. Bodies are bodies, this is what they look like, if the kids behaved like they were uncomfortable I'd suggest they let me shower / sleep / sh*t in peace. The first thing I'm going to do when the office reopens is use the toilet on my own.

[Idontbelieveit12]

Laughing at people being disgusted at changing sanitary towels in front of kids. My youngest used to sit on his potty while I was on the loo when he was 2 and pretend to use a tampon 🤣

[Hoppinggreen]

Vanilla which bit?
DS going into the bathroom naked when DDs friend was there? In which case yes it was and he was quickly removed and told not to do it again.
Luckily the friend, DD and the friends mum ( who I told and apologised to as well) thought it was funny.
The friend was fully clothed

[natural63]

I am glad to see that there are some people, albeit a minority, on here, who have no issues with nakedness. I guess if this was a forum based in a country other than Britain the balance might be different.

We are naturists (not in Britain, though, only when we are on holiday, which we always take in a country where it is completely normal). So we spend our holidays naked the whole day in front of not only each other but a whole beach full of people (very few of whom will be British). At home we have no problems with seeing each other naked as we walk to and from the bathroom, have a shower while someone pops in to talk etc, although we don't walk around naked all over the house.

At home we are me, DH and 11 year old DS. I have adult stepdaughters who are away at uni. The elder one (27) is a naturist like us when on holiday, the younger one (26) is not.

[MandalaYogaTapestry]

Children see a lot of "ordinary, real-life" bodies, in swimsuits or barely covered, on the beach or in the streets in a hot weather. They do know that not everybody looks like photoshopped models from magazines. They don't need to see their parents' (or any other people's) genitalia to comprehend this fact.

[SpillTheTeaa]

I don't have an issue with nakedness but wouldn't walk around with my children being present naked.

[Weebitawks]

My DS are 4 and 9. They are both happy running around naked (like if we're in the paddling pool, they wouldn't think anything of taking their clothes off downstairs etc.)

I don't parade around naked but if I'm in my room getting changed they might come in to ask me things and I'm not going to make a big deal of it.

DS 9 is pretty respectful of things in the regard that if I'm having a bath and he's about to go to the loo, he'll come in, realise I'm in the bath and then go and use a different toilet.

As if said, no one goes out of their way to be naked, but similarly no one thinks it's a big deal if they walk in on someone naked.

[vanillandhoney]

@Hoppinggreen

Vanilla which bit?
DS going into the bathroom naked when DDs friend was there? In which case yes it was and he was quickly removed and told not to do it again.
Luckily the friend, DD and the friends mum ( who I told and apologised to as well) thought it was funny.
The friend was fully clothed

Because surely when your DD has a friend over, you shouldn't be letting your 6yo wander around the house naked, let alone letting him wander into bathrooms unannounced? What if DD's friend was on the toilet, or had her period?

I'm glad they found it funny but I think a lot of 11yo's would have been really embarrassed and upset about it, and likely would never admit to being upset in front of a friends' parent either.

[lilgreen]

Mine are 16&19 DDs now but I think it’s a gradual thing. Your son is probably about to go into that phase. It’s normally when they learn about bodies changing in yr 5/6. We never paraded about naked but they’ve sometimes walked in on us getting dressed. You’ll know when is right.