Naked children at tourist spot - diagram included

[Irishfarmer]

Basically children playing/ swimming naked at a tourist waterfall. Strange or not?

Longer. So to me this didn't seem right. Yesterday I went to visit a very pretty waterfall - my first attempt at a MN diagram attached 😂 There is a car park then a walk of less than 1km up to the waterfall with a stream running down from the waterfall.

Got to a very pretty bridge and could see up to the waterfall. But couldn't take any pics or actually really look cause there were about 4 DC buck naked having a swim! It was raining and not that warm. But also just thought it was a really weird/ inappropriate place for DC to be swimming at all, 1 dad was with them, 2 mums were sitting (blocking a lot of the path) making flower chains/ pictures.

Went further up and there was another dad and a dc maybe 6ish on the surrounds of the plunge pool. Which was rock covered in green moss/ ferns. Walking back to the car there was 1 dc the far side of the bridge with no adult supervision dc looked maybe 4. Again lots of moss. Reasonably fast moving stream😑

IDK, I know kids like being naked and swimming but this wasn't the place was it?! The car park holds maybe 50ish cars and all spots were taken + 1 small bus load of Americans (one lady insisted on taking a pic of me and DH when we were taking a selfie which was nice!). It didn't seem busy but there had to be 100ish ppl milling around. Judging by the amount of signs in German/ French it must be a popular tourist spot.

Anyway:

YABU - Children can swim naked at tourist spots why wouldn't they
YANBU - It is weird

Ah, lovely Leitrim a most underrated and unspoilt part of the country.

@Peanutbuttercupisyum they were the only ones swimming there. The adults weren't even in the dad just had his jeans rolled up a small bit and stood at the edge near a few of them. No one else was swimming or looked like they had any intention of it! I didn't it was cold and raining. Everyone else was there to see the waterfall/ take pics. It just seemed like a strange place to swim made stranger by the fact the kids were naked.

Buy a postcard. Landscapes are to be interacted with in mutually inclusive ways. Grumbling because people are relaxing by a stream because it makes it look less picture perfect is tragic.

Children enjoying themselves is way more important than a tourist wanting photos. YABVVU.

I wouldn't have allowed my children to swim naked at a spot where others typically visit to take photos either.

Then again, nor would I be hugely comfortable with my child being totally naked on a beach. As much because of the irritation of sand in sensitive places as anything!

@BreakorMake really is fab! I think more of it is getting recognised with 'forgotten midlands'/ blue ways. We normally go to the Tóstal festival for a gawk at the fancy bales, I'm telling ya it does be the high light of a Sunday arvo follwed by a 99😂DS1 is due this summer that'll be nice to take him to next year.

I don’t see a major problem here

really does depend on the age of the kids ,if there are fairly young i'd say fairly normal and doesn't bother me...what i do object to is seeing naked adults full frontal who are quiet happy to stand around fully naked which we saw on a welsh beach walk quite recently and a walk along a river last year in England....both busy places with lots of tourists. The trend for wild swimming is appearing to have brought out the exhibitionists ,having worked in healthcare I feel comfortable with bodies but think sometimes people who do this may be being deliberately provocative in a way that makes me feel uncomfortable. I am happy with public nudity if i know to expect it- having lived in Germany where nudity is far more acceptable and part of the culture - but i'm not quite there yet with seeing men full frontal in the UK when I'm not knowingly in a designated nudist area.

I don't think you are allowed to swim there.

Huh? Of course you are allowed to!

Landowners can prevent access to waterways on their land, but that’s not the case here. The waterways themselves are public.

Everything could be 'slippery' there's potential danger everywhere! And what harm can a bit of rain/lower temperature do to a healthy, happy kid??

Human bodies are waterproof.... a bit of cold and rain doesn't spoil the fun for the average British person!

So precious! Sure the kids would be vocal if they didn't like it

I think you must have way too much time on your hands re that diagram! That's my only thoughts on this..

I wouldn't have a problem with it, but did go to france a lot as a kid and you couldn't go to the beach in summer without naked kids everywhere. I was maybe 7 when we started going and too self concious about my body from british culture to strip off myself.

I'm still a bit self concious about my body when it comes time to strip off for things, and envy one of my younger sisters who was young enough to be a frequent france beach nudist for her utter unselfconciousness and confidence about her body.

@bridgetreilly just something I read in one of the google reviews about not being allowed to swim there. But as I said I don't know. I only saw a sign prohibiting one thing and that was dogs.

@GirlCrushxxx no 14 degree weather isn't going to impact on a healthy child. Back in my day (child in 90s/00s) I did cross country running barefoot in mid winter and didn't die. Just a few posters were saying it was a good way to cool off on a hot day, it wasn't hot there.

It was bloody freezing here yesterday, no way would any of my DC get naked for an alfresco swim. Even bath time is a daily battle. I see your point about the photographs though, I wouldn't want to inadvertently take a pic with a naked child in it.

Longer?

If a nudist child blundered into your holiday snap at the wrong moment, the CPS wouldn't even charge, let alone get a conviction.

I'm a bit on the fence as I had no issue with nudity, public or otherwise. To me naked doesn't equal sexy or sexual. All the time anyways. It's the context that makes it sexy or sexual.

I'd probably be a bit shocked due to the weather OP is describing as that sounds horrible, but like PP says, if the kids were unhappy with it, they'd be vocal.

I do understand being a bit miffed if you've gone all that way and couldnt take a pic (assuming it's not somewhere you can visit again) but it's far better to experience things than take a photo.

Sorry to derail...

But please never use "child pornography", to call it "porn" legitimises the indecent imagery.

The correct term is Child Sexual Abuse or child sexual abuse material.

You are assuming that a picture of a baby splashing in a bath is “indecent”. It isn’t. And has been judged to be “not indecent” many times in a court of law.

I’m sorry that you think innocent pictures of a baby splashing in a bath are indecent, but culturally in the UK it doesn’t meet the threshold, and frankly I think it says a lot about you and your attitudes to nudity that you think they might be.

I’m quite intrigued at how you jump from naked children playing in a fountain to sex sites. That’s not normal

Intrigued? A previous role working with sex offenders, many of the images shared are of naked children simply playing, swimming etc

It's completely normal to be concerned regarding the safety of children.

Waterfalls can be very dangerous, the turbulence can drag you under.

I hate seeing naked children running around.

I work in the criminal justice system and the scale of sexual offending against children is much greater than people realise. I never allowed my DC to be naked in public as I was worried that someone would photograph them and images of them could be circulated and basically used as pornography. I realise this will sound completely implausible and far fetched to most people but in my experience, sadly wherever there are children there will also be paedophiles.

Each to their own and I’m sure many would see my parenting as overprotective in this regard but I can’t unknow what I know.

I never allowed my DC to be naked in public as I was worried that someone would photograph them and images of them could be circulated and basically used as pornography. I realise this will sound completely implausible and far fetched to most people but in my experience, sadly wherever there are children there will also be paedophiles

Not far fetched at all, you know it happens all the time.

What is far fetched is this nonsense belief some posters have that sex offenders won't go to places where there are naked children, won't take photographs of those naked children and won't distribute those photographs.