Is it alright for my teenage sons to only wear shorts in front of us?

[Lisa2019GB]

Hi all. I have two sons in their late teens. In the evening after they come home and shower they will watch TV in the living room with just their shorts on - no socks or t-shirt. Sometimes they will fall asleep and I throw a blanket over them. I never thought anything of it, why should I? Anyhow, a friend of mine was visiting recently and commented about it, saying that they should be fully clothed in the house and it's not normal behavior.

My husband doesn't have an issue with it either, he simply says we are family so it doesn't matter it's not like they are naked, but I wanted to get some outside opinions about it from other parents out there as I don't really see the issue personally.

I have have a close relationship with my boys and wouldn't want to make things unnecessarily awkward.

All views appreciated!

Thank you :)

Very normal! Do they have boxers on underneath their shorts? My 15 yr old inadvertently flashed a bollock at me the other day, but other than that, not an issue (he was just in his boxers though).
If you’re expecting guests then I’d want them to have a top on I suppose (and pants n shorts).
In the summer ds - 15 - often doesn’t wear a top in the house but I do ask for one on at the dinner table.

Both mine will wear just shorts, why not? It's their home after all.

"Polite persons do not take their supper in the nude!" Said by Miss Peregrine to Millard, one of her peculiar children who was invisible.

I'd say it's fine for them to be shirtless as long as there were no visitors. I'm a tutor, and once I asked a teenage lad to put a shirt on in his own home (no parents present), because I didn't feel comfortable talking to him while he was bare-chested. Mind you, I know some tutors who have a "no pyjamas on my lessons" rule for their pupils.

I'm just jealous your house is warm enough to do this in

Sounds absolutely fine to me. In our house we’ve always said that the kids can wear as much or as little as they like but they’re to put on some clothes if they sit on the furniture, or we have guests. I would say a pair of shorts is plenty for both of those scenarios. For context we also insist they look smart in their school uniforms and we generally struggle to get them to change out of their onesies at a weekend. We go to naturist beaches on holiday and generally try to promote a positive and open attitude to body confidence. As a result they probably wear clothes just as much as anyone else but aren’t the slightest bit concerned about strolling to the shower or getting changed at the pool etc.

Sounds to me that your friend is the one with the hang ups... but kids do also need to learn that accommodating other people’s hang-ups to make everything get along smoothly is also sometimes a life skill.