Naked kids on the beach - would you let them?

[ssd]

I mean would you let your say 6 year old play naked on the beach?

Today thanks to the sun at last we went to the beach, it was fairly busy. A family next to us let their approx. 6 year old boy play around the waters edge naked for a while before the cold got to him and he put on pants as in underpants. The other kids ages about 3 - 9 years old were playing in their underpants (all boys).

Now I'm not prudish but I don't think its acceptable to let a child play on a beach naked, nor would I want an older child playing in his pants. My ds1 would never play and run around in front of strangers in only his pants and he's 7, the other kids I mean were older than him.

I don't care what anyone does at home or in their garden, but I'd want them dressed more appropriately at a beach.

What do you think?

But just to continue T'moth's point, in non-rhymong, non-iambic pentameters, I was outraged on your behalf, but then remembered an ex of mine who confessed that his earliest sexual interest came from sitting in on his mother's yoga class aged 9. He said he used to discreetly ogle and then later fantasise and masturbate.
But then again, where's the harm? It could be any woman in any situation - teachers, in the supermarket, on the beach...even having heard my ex's story, I still wouldn't stop an 8 year old watching an excercise class. Better to learn what they have to learn watching fully grown women than friends little sisters, or whatever.

And like medical students, they do have to learn this stuff!

I think there is somethingh far more sinister about someone looking through ones letterbox, but we wont go into that

I agree, Fi.

Tigermoth and Tamum and Fio and Blu
Obviously I agree with all you.

I've just been swimming - quite frankly if the sight of my black one-piece excites illicit passions in the various lads around, I can't be arsed to be bothered.

Just come on to offer an olive branch Toothache. Not keen to cross swords with you, and I am genuinely sorry if I upset you...but I can't promise I won't say something again if you say something that grates on me. I'll just make a very big effort to be pleasant and unprovocative in the way I bring it up (maybe I need to go to charm school)

I think this thread has been ill tempered on and off generally - it happens sometimes. One of those subjects that gets quite polarised and then leads to fisticuffs.

You've made me think though - I'm now quite worried that I come across as overly aggressive and argumentative. I don't want to be like that...

Sorry - had to add in an emoticon. I can't post without using them!

(and batters)
(that matters)

MotherInferior'
s sleek posterior
Looks fab in black
when she swims on her back

Message withdrawn

The judge in the pensioner story also said "New technology is making it increasingly easy for this type of offense to be committed" which backs up my feelings that, whilst the behaviour is maybe no more commin than it used ot be, it is far easier and quicker to commit the crime.

I don't make a huge deal about DSs wearing trunks/pants on the beach, it's just what we do. It doesn't make them self conscious, I'm not implanting in their mind any "confusion (between sexuality and naked bodies)", it's not going to give them a complex about covering up, it's not constraining them or curtailing their freedom. It does stop some of the large quantity of sand that would otherwise end up their bottoms though.

I can not imagine why a woman would complain about an 8 year old boy being in an exercise class where adult men were welcome though. Truly ridiculous.

It does stop some of the large quantity of sand that would otherwise end up their bottoms though.

PMSL - Don't you find that when you go to the beach, even you're fully clothed (ie not even in swimwear) you get home and find sand EVERYWHERE!

I keep thinking of your changing room problem lisalisa, and can't think of a solution. I find the whole swimming class thing very stressful, actually. I hated meeting my oldest son in the changing room and ending his procrastination while my youngest, then a toddler, racketed around causing chaos. And this was just in a mixed changing area.

Blu, your ex's confession is certainly food for thought. I cannot imagine a 9 year old boy thinking that way, but I don't really know that many 9 year old boys, when it boils down to it.

MI, glad you enjoyed your swim and the poem in your honour.

The nudist beach at Brighton isn't civilised - definitely not somewhere you would want to take your children