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Original poster

Naked baby in public

34 replies

codswallop · 09/07/2004 21:41

Two odd thing s I thought Id get your opinions on today
1, I girl I continually see without shoes on, she is about ... 5 and is at the leisure centre watching sport( not playing it) and then I saw her agin iN a supermarket without shoes on. Is that a bit weird?

e Would you do it? no negelect at all - Mum and girl are very normal etc

  1. Baby a bout 2 running aroung a celebrity cricket match wiht not a stitch on! Probably a thousand people there and this child is running around all afternoon naked

Appropriate or not?

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daisy1999 · 09/07/2004 21:50

Very odd without shoes. I know my 2 Dd hurt their feet whenever they take their shoes off- and that's in the house!

We shouldn't feel uneasy about a naked 2 year old but then again I wouldn't let mine. I would be too worried about who might be looking.

Original poster
codswallop · 09/07/2004 21:51

I wouldnt mind at a beach tho so does that matter?
I d o mind more since m,y MIL ( Community Pschy. Nurse) said i really should be ccraeful after what she hears a bout from her patients

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daisy1999 · 09/07/2004 21:55

I'm a lot more careful than I used to be since a trip to Great Yarmouth last year. We were walking along the front and 2 elderly men were videoing the small kids playing on the beach.

Original poster
codswallop · 09/07/2004 21:57

It was in waitrose though - thier floors MUST be cleaner

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daisy1999 · 09/07/2004 21:58

Oh Waitrose - you should have said - of course I would let them take their shoes off in a better class of shop!!

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codswallop · 09/07/2004 22:02

he he

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Jimjams · 09/07/2004 22:24

Maybe they were kiwis, New Zealand kids often go without shoes (my kiwi cousins always did). The other kids I've known who have been through phases of refusing to wear shoes have had sensory problems.

Not sure about the naked child, it wouldn't offend me as such, but I wouldn't do it myself just because you never know what pervs there are around.

daisy1999 · 09/07/2004 22:32

It makes me so angry that we feel we have to restrict our childrens activities and take extra care when changing them on the beach etc because of pervs. And how come when they have served their sentence they are released despite still being a danger to children. The powers that be care more for the rights of convicted child molesters than for the rights of the next innocent child. It's a sad sad world.

shrub · 09/07/2004 22:38

very true daisy1999

posyhairdresser · 09/07/2004 22:46

I agree, both odd things, but acceptable IMO
Please view my thread "bookcrossing.com" for my discovery of the weekend....
My thread has almost only me talking on it which is embarassing but I can't drop the subject!!!

shrub · 09/07/2004 22:49

with reference to codswallops post - I let my both my children go barefoot, i think its a sensorial thing letting them feel the earth/grass/puddles beneath their toes. the school my ds1 goes to lets them go naked when its warm enough (3 - 5 year olds). i think with it being in a safe innocent context it helps the children celebrate their bodies, teaching them to be proud of what they've got and hopefully lessens the chance of them having hang ups later in life (unlike his mummy)

Jimjams · 09/07/2004 22:50

I made the mistake of walking thrugh glasgow barefooted one winter night (my boots -new- were killing me). Oh my god I almost got frostbite!

coppertop · 09/07/2004 22:56

Ds2 (17mths) hates wearing shoes and will take them off as soon as he can. I don't know if it's a sensory thing or not but I can imagine him being the same as he gets older.

No I wouldn't let my ds's go naked in public but that's because we do seem to have a lot of perverts in our neighbourhood (ie with previous convictions for offences against children).

eddm · 09/07/2004 23:01

My mother always encouraged us to walk barefoot, mainly in the house but also outside on the grass. Her father was a shoemaker so she was really fussy about looking after our feet (was still trying to make me wear Clark's T-bars at age 13!) and she said running around with bare feet was good for you. Socks and shoes restrict your feet, I suppose. I still don't wear shoes inside my own house.
Bit odd to go barefoot in a supermarket though.

daisy1999 · 09/07/2004 23:01

poor you coppertop. Although maybe "poor me", we might all be in the same position but just not know it!

Angeliz · 09/07/2004 23:02

I find the shoes thing a bit wierd!

I also find the naked toddler a bit un-nerving. HOWEVER, i know there are many many views on this but i would never let mine.

(Bet the toddler had a lovely time though and was totally unaware which is nice God bless innocence)

daisy1999 · 09/07/2004 23:05

I agree it's good for your feet to go barefoot, except when you stub your toe on the door, trap a door under the bottom of the door and have to be prised free (ouch), and stand on every toy left on the floor! One of my daughters is accident prone as you might have guessed!

daisy1999 · 09/07/2004 23:06

that should be trap a toe

SofiaAmes · 10/07/2004 01:28

I grew up going without shoes whenever possible. Only wore them when necessary or required. Then again I grew up in Berkeley, California home of the hippy. Funnily enough, I would have worn shoes to the supermarket as it was required for health reasons (not sure why it's more sanitary for the store for people to have their shoes on....).

I don't see anything wrong with a 2 year old running around with no clothes on if it's warm enough.

I find it much more concerning the number of girls I see dressed like prostitutes at an age where they would have had to have had the clothes purchased by a parent/adult.

ladymuck · 10/07/2004 01:36

Some of my friends toddlers seem to always be taking their clothes off. Their mothers just seem to get used to it.

eddm · 10/07/2004 01:53

Ladymuck, you reminded me, my sister always used to take her clothes off. We were allowed to play out in the 70s and she'd leave her clothes in a neat pile under a tree or a lamp-post and run off. Didn't really get into wearing clothes all day until she went to school!

KangaMummy · 10/07/2004 02:07

Before I read JimJams message, I remembered when we were in NZ kids and adults would go shopping etc without shoes even drive cars. [adults]

It seemed that more people did NOT wear shoes than did.

We were at a friends for BBQ today and their DS 3yrs. arrived downstairs wearing only socks and his mums G string hitched up to his shoulders.
Everyone laughed although his mum very embarassed.

toddlerbob · 10/07/2004 05:26

The no shoes things would not phase me at all as I now live in NZ. I would be upset to see a totally naked 2 year old (running around all day as in original post) as I would worry about sunburn. Unsurprisingly shoes are optional in our house, but a hat is non negotiable.

FairyMum · 10/07/2004 09:49

It's very healthy for kids to run around with no shoes, but I would worry about cut glass and all the dirt I think.
Naked 2 year-olds is perfectly natural I think.

Original poster
codswallop · 10/07/2004 11:09

Yes i agree that my sons wer enaked a lot till they were a bout 2 but this was a cricket pitch with baout 3 thousand other (dressed) people in it.

I do think it was a little incongruous.

funnily enough I heard osme 8/10 year olds discussing it in horrified tones

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