The other day, my sister left my one-year-old niece NC with me for a few hours to play with C, who is only a few weeks older. The baby cousins are best pals, and were very excited to have some playtime together, which had been hard to come by the previous week, since NC had the flu (not the Swine Flu, but a bad diagnosed case of Influenza B.)
As it was a warm afternoon, I set up the baby pool in the front yard, stripped the girls down, slathered them with sunscreen, and proceeded to sit on the porch, watching the naked babies play in our small, fenced front yard. They had a blast, jumping in and out of the little pool, splashing each other, and running around the yard together.
Our street gets lots of car traffic, and quite a bit of foot traffic. Most people who walked by while the nekkid babies were frolicking smiled and waved at us, or commented as they passed by on how cute the girls were. But then, the Naked Baby Police arrived, this time in the form of a very sour-looking older lady who must live nearby, because I see her out walking in the neighborhood quite often. She took one look at the girls playing in the pool sans culottes and stopped dead in her tracks just outside our front gate. Then she held forth in my direction, loudly and angrily.
You need to put some clothes on those children!
I took a deep breath, and responded as politely as I could, explaining that they are not “children,” but BABIES who aren’t even two years old yet, and that I think it’s fine for babies to be naked sometimes. She was not deterred, responding with righteous indignation.
But what about the perverts?!
Ummmm…I didn’t really have any interest in responding to that, given the fact that I don’t actually know this woman. I really felt no need to engage in a debate on my parenting, or about “perverts” with her as she stood out on the sidewalk. So I again tried to be polite, reaffirming that I was comfortable with letting the girls play naked. Obviously completely dissatisfied by my answer, she harumphed loudly before quickly walking away, shaking her head in obvious disgust at me.
This is not the first run-in I’ve had with the Naked Baby Police. With all four of my children, I’ve allowed them to get naked out in the yard when they were babies and toddlers. That’s actually how E finally ditched diapers; he spent most of the summer after he turned two running around without pants in our yard – with me nearby, of course – taking great delight in “watering” the bushes and flowers. But I’ve definitely encountered disapproval of my naked babies from time to time from various neighbors and friends and passersby. Mostly, I just ignore it, knowing it’s much ado about nothing. However, I have one friend who actually had the police called on her by a nosy Gladys Kravitz as my friend oversaw her twin toddler boys playing naked in their baby pool. And the police came! I’ve also heard stories of parents being harassed by child welfare authorities after taking naked baby photos to a lab for printing.
I truly don’t get this cultural hang-up about letting little children be naked sometimes. When I worked as an au pair for a prosperous French family one summer, they happily let their four-year-old daughter play naked on the beach, as did all their friends. She did own a swimsuit, but it consisted of only a bikini bottom. No top. The idea that there was anything potentially sexual about this never occurred to these parents.
But what about the “perverts?” Should I worry about this when deciding whether to let C play with the garden hose with no clothes on? I don’t think so. Just because a few very sick people see children as sexual objects doesn’t mean I am going to treat my own child like she actually is a sexual object – which she most certainly is not – by refusing to let her be naked, ever.
So yeah, I am pro-naked-baby. Early childhood is a brief and innocent time of life, and I love seeing my children enjoy it. But I do have a few friends who seem really uncomfortable with this, even declining to have any photos of their young children in the nude for their own family photo albums.
How about you?
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I let our boys play naked in the baby pool too. They are 2 and 10 months, they love it, and I don’t see anything wrong with it. I hate that some people feel the need to impose their ideas of right and wrong on parents. Let them play, you are right, they are only babies for a short time.
I think a a big part of your job as a parent is constantly weighing the benefits with the potential risks. My mom is constantly lecturing me on all the things kids can’t do…. don’t let him play in the pile of raked leaves, that’s where deadly spider bites can happen. Don’t let him go to an animal farm, animals can have E. coli on them and kids die from that. Don’t give him that plastic spoon to use as a drum stick, he could fall, break it, and the jaggy broken edge would go right through his soft palate. Don’t post naked pictures of him on photo sharing site, perverts could see them and print them.
You know what? Life’s too short. Bad things happen to kids. And that sucks. I mean, it’s really, really horrible and I can’t bear to think about it. But you can avoid every risk in the world and something bad could still happen. Personally, I choose not to live my life making decisions based on fear. Who wants to be so afraid they see perverts lurking in the bushes everywhere???
I’m pro-naked baby/toddler. I have decided on many topics that the old-school cranks just need to quit their cranking and get with the program. Babies are innocent creatures and to sexualize them is just freaky.
Your relaxed stance is commendable. They are babies for such a short time, and letting them frolic au natural is such a wonderful reflection of their wonderful sensibility.
I’d love to hear from some of you who disagree with my position on this, and who handle the matter differently in your own families.
Speak up! Don’t be shy
-Katie
My youngest daughter LOVED being naked. Often with the addition of a dish towel tied around her neck with her fave sunglasses so that she could be Super Izzy!!
I had no problem with her running around our back yard like that and often our front yard too. (I live on a cul de sac with only four houses.) However; I think that if I lived on a heavily trafficked street I would just keep her in the back yard.
The sad fact is that you can never know the minds of others. It’s true that bad things happen to kids. I was a child in Florida when Adam Walsh disappeared. Before that it was common for your parents to drop you off in the toy section but that custom instantly vanished when Adam did.
I don’t think I could live with the regret if something nightmarish happened that I might have been able to prevent just by changing the location of the kiddie pool. Paranoid? Yes.
But I’m not sure if (or how) I want to get over it.
Sorry, also pro naked baby, though mine rarely ever gets to be naked, since we live in a tiny apartment with no yard. We’re moving this summer though, and I can’t wait for nakedness to ensue!
Katie I am totally pro naked baby. My kid still loves to be naked and he’s almost four. The only thing I’d be a little nervous about in your particular situation is that I know you live in a “transitional” urban area and you might have some borderline creepy people walking by your front yard. I live in a similar neighborhood in East Nashville and if we had a fenced in front yard I’d probably still keep the naked time confined to the back.
I’m not one to tell other parents how to raise their children, but I personally wouldn’t allow my toddler daughter to be in the front yard completely naked. Backyard perhaps, but definitely not in the front yard, especially if there’s lots of traffic. Now topless, I feel a bit more comfortable with. I think once they are walking and talking they should have bottoms on.
Sadly, I think there are just as likely to be creepy people (in terms of posing a danger to kids) in nicer neighborhoods as inner city neighborhoods.
-kag
More on this: if you are worried about dangerous people targeting your child because of a glimpse of naked baby bottom, I think you might be taking false comfort in the whole frontyard/backyard thing. The lawyer or doctor whose backporch or deck has a nice view of your backyard isn’t any more or less likely to be a kidnapper than random folks strolling by.
Just my 2 cents.
-kag
I’m very pro-naked baby. Lorelei (age 4) is often completely clothes-free for hours after a bath (inside the house). When we lived in South Knoxville on the dogwood trail, and Jake and Teddy were toddlers, they swam outside naked all summer long. I probably would have let them in the front yard as well, except that my husband is anti-naked baby.
However, you know where we live now, and I don’t feel comfortable with them being naked outside here. (My neighborhood is more transitional than Katie’s is!) Not only would I worry about “perverts” (and there are quite a few registered ones close by) I would be concerned about neighbors calling DCS, because I don’t know them and they don’t know me. I even worry about neglect calls because I have a school-aged child at home and he and his little sister are usually outside playing in their nightgowns (which in this house means old t-shirts) about half the day.
So while I completely agree with you in principal, and I think that woman was out of line to say anything to you, I probably would have let the babies have their little swim in the backyard.
I’m not necessarily opposed to it because of perverts, but because I try to teach my daughter what is appropriate and what is not. Out in public we keep our privates private. As for the frontyard/backyard difference, my backyard can’t be viewed from my neighbor’s house! Not wanting to debate, just giving my humble opinion!
Oh, I’m pro naked kid. Both my son and daughter ran around naked outside pretty routinely until they were past 3. My daughter was 5 the last time we let her strip naked and swim in the ocean, and my son was about that age when we nixed the naked-in-the-backyard sprinkler thing.
I’ve never had anyone comment about it one way or another.
I live in (and grew up in) coastal S.C., and I don’t think naked toddlers on the beach have ever raised too many eyebrows (within my memory). Maybe Pawleys Island is a haven of liberal-nudist thought.
My sister lives in (northwestern) Bible-Belt S.C., and once had an indirect contact from the naked-baby police. At the time, her daughter was about 2, and Ruth let her run around without a shirt in the summer.
Neighbor child: My mom wants to know why you let Katie go out without a shirt.
Sister: It’s hot.
My parents were of the same opinion as Chanda and it took me years to get over my body issues. A child should never be taught that his or her body is inappropriate.
Two words for the Naked Police: butt out!
I’m not anti-naked baby, but I’m not crazy about posting pictures of naked babies on-line. Not because of “perverts” necessarily, but because I think it’s an invasion of the baby’s privacy that they can’t consent to. I’m not sure why I differentiate between clothed and naked pictures when it comes to the privacy issue, but it’s not something I would feel comfortable doing. Just my 2 cents, and not meant as an attack.
love the neekkey babies…
Salem will take off all her clothes, then say “dance”? and wiggle…
Sorry, Katie, but I agree with you on this one, too. I like what you said about “Just because a few very sick people see children as sexual objects doesn’t mean I am going to treat my own child like she actually is a sexual object – which she most certainly is not – by refusing to let her be naked, ever.” – that was an interesting point that I hadn’t thought of before.
And I’m not sure I understand what the risk is. If someone is targeting children as sexual objects – well, they might do that if they know I have kids, whether or not those kids are naked, right? So should I pretend I don’t, hurry them out to the car, hide them in the house – just in case? If not, then how different is it if they are in the pool naked? It’s perhaps possible that some damaged person is going to have a sexual response to that – but any kid young enough to run around nekkid in my pool is a kid I’m watching, and no one is going to do anything to my children if I can help it. I can’t control the person’s response, and I keep my kids as safe as I can while balancing their needs for freedom and exploration. What else am I supposed to do?
I don’t mind my son being naked, but only inside the house. In the baby pool he wears a bathing suit and swim diaper, as I’m not interested in cleaning poop out of the pool either. It’s not so much about perverts I guess, as just a matter of routine. We wear clothes outside of the house. Plus surfaces are sharper, rougher, dirtier outside. Just my personal preference. I don’t care what others do, I’m only concerned with my kid.
I don’t post any nakey pictures online out of an abundance of caution. Anyone can right click and copy the picture. But I take some nakey pictures for my own album because they are just adorable anyway.
@ Michelle – I don’t teach my daughter that her body is inappropriate, I teach her that it is inappropriate to be naked in public.
I live in Finland where, thanks to the sauna culture, people–babies, children, and adults–spend quite a lot of time naked together. Beaches are always dotted with naked children and no one blinks an eye. My in-laws have nude/semi-nude photos of themselves, their children, and the extended family in their photo albums, none of which are considered sexual or risque. It’s interesting that there are such divergent attitudes to nudity in the US…even within the same neighborhood!
Katie, my sister Laura directed me to this article (we saw a lot of naked babies together last summer when she visited Finland) as well as the one about quirky childhoods. I’ve enjoyed them both very much and look forward to more.
I am all for being naked and teaching a child to feel comfortable in their own skin etc. Naked babies are adorable. BUT, I really don’t think it’s appropriate or tasteful for a front yard. That’s what backyards and privacy fences were made for. It’s one thing if you’re out in the country but the inner city? Uh…no. That’s what they do in the projects – because they don’t have backyards.
Wow! What an incredible diversity of opinion (understatement)
Love the perspective from Michele regarding the cultural assumptions in Finland.
-katie
I have some gorgeous, arty b&w professional photographs of my daughter – naked! – taken when she was 10 months old hanging up along my upstairs landing. I didn’t think twice about them until one visitor to our home clearly was embarrassed. That really got me thinking! The negative responses feel to me like part of the overall culture of shame about our bodies that so many Americans have (nakedness = sex = bad). No wonder so many women feel ambivalent about breastfeeding. In Korea and Japan neighborhood public baths are common. For Japanese children bathing together with friends on a school trip is an important part of bonding. I feel really lucky that I grew up in a family where there was a healthy comfort level with the human body and I got to run around being a naked baby!
OMG !
You were sitting watching them, I think you would stop a pervert from peeking over the shrubbery to stare.
Forget the front yard!
In NYC me and all my friends would let the babies run naked in the sprinklers in public parks.
in my local playground in Central Park we had a great water playground and the babies were all in diaper, and naked while playing.
I’m going to email picture to post if you like of my naked baby in Central park!!!!
My son was such a chubster of a baby that his fat rolls acted as a natural sort of fig leaf!
As for the lady who got so upset at your naked babies, it sounds like she has entirely too much time on her hands. In the words of Charlotte, she could use some serious psychological “hep.”
I certainly respect the diversity of opinions posted here regarding naked vs. not naked. What I have very little tolerance for is people who think they have the right to boss everyone else around. I hope I never become a cranky woman who feels the need to force my views on others. Really, the passerby could have expressed her concerns in a much more civil manner. Barking at people angrily is just insulting and accomplishes little. I’m glad you remained polite.
I didn’t have the “nekkid baby” police, but the “baby outside without a hat” old lady lived right next door! The naked babies in the yard didn’t bother her, but let them outside without a hat and OMG!
What ever happened to “It takes a village to raise a child.” Does that only apply to what young Mama’s agree with? Just wondering…
I can’t believe this is even up for discussion. It is so absurd. I am an American mother, living overseas and I have traveled all over the world with my children and the US is one of the only places I can think of (I have not traveled extensively in the Middle East so cannot speak about it) where children cannot be naked. This is so silly. What an uptight culture, where every being must be sexualized.
Reagan has spent much of the last weekend naked in her baby pool and loves it!
I never gave it a thought…
Miriam- we had the hat police, too! We got so many comments this winter about taking our baby out I almost stopped leaving the house. He was appropriately bundled and held against my body in our Moby wrap (and also 5-7 months old, hardly a newborn). But on cold days I would get strangers coming up to me telling me to get the baby inside.
I live in New England and I’m a stay at home mom. If I never left the house with the baby I would LOSE MY MIND.
People really do need to mind their own business…
My MIL gets uptight about naked professional portraits, even for newborns and even if it is just their cheeks or a side view.
Babies need to be naked regularly – how else can you pinch their butts?
The Finns are absolutely right.
I am okay with naked babies, even toddlers, and intend to use this to hopefully potty train my son this summer. Having been raised in New England by fairly conservative parents I am not big on naked older kids and adults. And honestly I don’t want to see any of my neighbors naked, and don’t intend for them to ever see me that way. If I had been raised in Europe where obviously there is a different approach to this I might feel differently. But I don’t and I am okay with that. I use to have neighbors who were nudists and they invited me and my husband to join them, but we declined. I loved having them as neighbors, but didn’t need to be naked with them. Whatever floats your boat is fine.
My youngest child is a girl and she is raising some new issues for me. I was molested as a kid and I find myself walking around with a new level of mama-bear-ness: if you try to hurt my daughter, I will take out your lung with my bare hand. Now don’t jump all over me, please, because I do recognize the need not to be overprotective. I have older sons and I am totally on board with the idea that kids need freedom. But with my daugher– I find myself wanting to protect her from others’ eyes, choosing carefully where I will change her diaper. I am still carrying scars from my childhood and I owe her the vigilance that my mother did not provide for me.
This would be an easy comment for people to mock, or to read too much into. Please note that I am a sane and happy and un-rigid person. It’s just that the birth of my daughter has opened up an unexpected tender spot. It might be that the sight of those naked girls pushed a similar button for the woman in your neighborhood.
Umm… what I find odd and a little disturbing is that you don’t use the kids names in the blog (privacy?) but you do post nude photos of them (privacy?) -Josh
Clem – That is an excellent point, and one we should all be sensitive too.
And no one should judge you for your choices in how you parent because no one knows your history or motivations like you do.
-Katie
I use their names fairly often, but generally use the initials as shorthand since the three older kids got, well, older. But as a matter of fact, I used C’s whole name just today on my personal blog.
The issue of whether people should write about or share photos of(in magazines or books or online) their children at all is a fair one. Obviously, I am comfortable with doing it in the way I do it, and so are my kids, who read my blog(s) and other writing on a regular basis.
C is too little to voice her opinion on it yet. I’ll ask her when she is, and proceed accordingly.
Your mileage may vary.
-kag
This post prompted me to finish and publish one of my own on nudity that’s been sitting around for a while now – thanks!
I’m with most of your commentators, the woman was absurd. But the police and the naked baby photo problem – that’s truly scary.
In Australia now (at least in my home state) you can’t even take pictures of your kids at a public pool, beause maybe just maybe you’ll get another kid – in their swimming costume, not even naked – in the frame, and maybe just maybe you’re actually a pervert who will then use the pictures in a nasty way. It’s complete craziness. What message are we sending? Everyone is likely to be a pervert? Your body is something to hide?
In principle, the naked baby thing doesn’t bother me. In practice, both my girls would pee the second the diaper comes off and I’m not thrilled about cleaning up the floor/carpet, so we don’t go naked too often. I also don’t care for naked bottom on my furniture. Not all wipers are equal.
I live in a small, private neighborhood and don’t have a problem w/the kids in the sprinkler/pool in the backyard. And while my neighbors probably wouldn’t care and/or say anything about front yard nudity, I still prefer the backyard. I guess I figure the neighbors would prefer not to see it and it’s no skin off my nose to use the backyard.
As for older kids (3 ish and up), I generally prefer them to be clothed in public, but still think the backyard pool/sprinkler is fine for a couple of years.
My 3 yo is in swimming lessons at the public pool and she showers and changes in the locker room in front of the other girls/ladies. She knows it’s appropriate to be naked in the locker room but not in the public areas of the pool. At some point, they will need to know when it is appropriate to be naked and that can be done without shame. It’s up to each parent to decide when they need to start learning that lesson though. Kudos for being civil to the busy body!
Oh, I should add that we don’t have a backyard suitable for baby play at all. It’s completely a dog space, and really messy and no nice lawn. Someday we hope to have it nicely landscaped and suitable for kid play, but for now the front yard is it for us.
I was at my best friend’s house last night, enjoying outside time with her children ( 2 girls, age 4 & 2). The two year old started taking off her clothes, so I told mom about this article, asked her opinion. She didn’t mind the 2 year old naked but not the 4 year old.
Not a parent, yet, so take that for what it’s worth. My (admittedly petty) concern about naked babies is just the awkwardness it can cause. I enjoy watching kids play, but am worried about being noticed in a different light if I watch naked kids play. Or if I make some conscious effort to avert my eyes… would that be weird? What’s the protocol there?
Yes, I’ve been accused of thinking about things too much. Why do you ask?
I wonder if the children were her own (or grandchildren) if she would have felt differently? I have a very conservative, pretty young mommy friend who was VERY critical of a little girl running in just underwear at the fountains downtown last summer. Well, this summer her little girl was doing it and she had to laugh at herself. I am not very uptight about nudity and I even think about maybe I’m too relaxed sometimes (especially where we live).
When I saw the photo (very cute btw) all I could think of was sunscreen! My girls are very, very sensitive to sunscreen and the ‘natural’ stuff is so hard to apply so we cover up more b/c of this.
And Trumwill, I think before you have kids you think about these types of things but if you do have kids it will change your perspective. I am a mom to two little girls and I don’t think perv when I see a guy looking at them in public.
I’m also pro-naked baby. I expect my 2 year old to spend much of the summer with no pants on, as she will be doing naked potty training.
We do have naked kid photos in our photo album and I do have some on my laptop (which is why I won’t bring my laptop to BlogHer this summer….concerned about being accused of having “child porn” when I cross the Canada/US border with it).
However, I have stopped posting any online. I used to have one on my post on potty learning of my daughter wearing just a shirt sitting on the potty, but got uncomfortable with the search terms that were bringing people to that post and picture.
Well, there are all kinds of people. Some people are very comfortable with nudity and some aren’t. I don’t think it’s fair to say that everyone who isn’t is a frigid uptight biddy. I am not comfortable with public nudity, and do not wander around my house naked. I don’t think shame comes into it – just comfort level. I have to admit, if I saw someone’s kids romping around naked, I would avert my eyes (not lecture them). I think for me, it is a privacy thing. Nudity is not shameful, it is private. I also pee, but that too is private. I do not pee in public view, but feel no shame over the act of peeing. Therefore to me, it feels intrusive to stare at nude people, even if they do not feel it is a private thing. I tend to preserve my own privacy, and sometimes accord others the level of privacy that I prefer, which maybe is more privacy than they want. So my boys will wear clothes. I hope that doesn’t brand me an abusive parent. Nothing wrong with bodies, but nothing wrong with clothes either.
I’m all for naked babies…most of us never get to enjoy wandering around in the buff for long enough. Also, I think each child has their own foibles about nudity and will let you know what they’re comfortable with. I was a shy kid who preferred to have bottoms on (top off was fine), my sister on the other hand…she would have gone to school naked (I mean the whole 12 years) given half a chance.
This is one thing that I never worried about. My oldest used to do this thing that we called the naked baby dance. I never specifically told her to stop doing the naked baby dance. It hasn’t turned into a naked ten year old dance. In fact, she would be the naked baby police in your neighborhood. I can just hear her, “Mom, They’re naked!” Long story short, they start cluing into social and cultural mores and they grow out of it.
I don’t get American culture where anyone can have a gun but babies can’t be naked. It’s screwed up!
Oh, it’s nakers for us. The boy is free and happy that way. It’s been a bit more of a stretch for his dad to be comfortable with it, but he’s stretched rather a lot and has become far more comfortable with things that might earlier have been outside his comfort zone. The boy is 3.5. As it grows warmer, he’s naked at home and out back, sometimes out front, too. When he was littler, even at the park sometimes. Yeah, we got some looks and my sister hasn’t ever been terribly comfortable with it. Generally, I suss out the comfort level of our family and how that impacts others, and whether or not it merits some adaptation on our part. Sometimes it does, sometimes not so much.
Don’t forget, America still has a bit of a Puritan instinct when it comes to public nudity. I’m not saying that it’s good or bad, it just is.
yup, all for the nekkid baby here, too!
we’re fine with ‘em running around in the yard nekkid. house, too. luckily, never had a poop incident and am fine with the peeing that’s happened which, thankfully, has been minimal!!
we have a fenced back yard at our current home, so i can’t imagine any of the neighbors making a to-do about it when our now-toddler will no doubt be enjoying the upcoming summer au naturel (he loves going without clothes inside and no doubt will outside as well). our 6-year-old has become more modest and i doubt he’ll partake aside from occasional ‘watering’ of the bushes, but as a toddler we’d let him frolick naked in his baby pool in our front yard at our other house (no back yard to play in, so it was all front yard). nobody said anything about him being naked per se– in fact, the sight of him jumping and splashing caused passers-by to smile a little to see the fun he was having and how free he was about it, BUT we did get comments from a busy body regarding the fact that he is intact. seriously! naked toddler? no issue. naked toddler with a foreskin? ISSUE. it was odd, to say the least. that was nearly 4 years ago and i am still stunned someone had the audacity to even go there!!
friends of ours (we live in maryland) let their then 2-year-old, on a blistering hot day, run around naked in a park on a wooded pathway. they passed a couple who evidently were alarmed by the sight of the little boy, who was with his mom, dad, and fully clothed older sister, and contacted park police. the park police officers tracked them down, questioned them, made it VERY clear that this behavior was unacceptable, and really upset our friends, as you can imagine.
personally, i myself have ‘body issues’ and am extremely self-conscious, which is exactly why i am determined to do all i can to help foster a good body image and self confidence in our kids. so we let ‘em run nekkid if they want to be without making a big deal out of it as one of the steps in that direction….
I have no problem with naked BABIES, but I am slightly concerned with the fact that you can’t seem to let go of the term “baby.” C and NC aren’t “babies” anymore. They are toddlers. I enjoy reading your blog(s) and am looking forward to the one where you address the two-year-old still using a bottle. I intend no insult here, I’m just really interested in hearing what you have to say.
this reminded me of a quote by Lewis Grizzard – great Southern humorist. ” “Naked for a Southern means you ain’t got no clothes on. Nekked means you ain’t got no clothes on and you up to somethin’.”
there is nnothing wrong with babies beinng naked …
Though I have no children, I am definitely pro naked baby as I was a naked baby. There are countless pictures of me with plastic curlers in my hair in kiddy pool naked. (I loved having curlers in my hair!?) This including my brothers and cousins. Also many pictures of Christmas time and me wearing only bows.
The only problem I would see would be unattended naked babies. I agree, there are “perverts” everywhere. If you supervise and set a good example for your children that is the most you can do.
Good luck fighting a naked baby cause!
-Kat
Ya, I’d be concerned about perverts… Force clothes on the kids and make a big deal out of it, as though the body were shameful, and watch them grow up to become perverts…
It is a fact, that virtually all rapes, child predation, and other forms of sexual attack are fomented [or at least begun] with the victim fully clothed, or at least having on some form of clothing. Mere nakedness does not trigger an abuser to commit an offense.
If we use the logic demonstrated in many of the posts above, that the state of dress or undress controls the actions of the perpetrator, then a logical conclusion would be that nudity protects our children, and that we should keep them nude to avoid predation.
It might also be possible to ascertain that, in the 3 months prior to committing their offense, most sexual predators had consumed tomatoes in some form. Logic then dictates that to protect our children we need to get tomatoes off the market.
Paul [who believes that the only real protection for children is parental supervision]
I don’t yet have children but I absolutely agree that naked babies are not a problem. Naked toddlers. Naked whatever. I remember going to Haulover beach for the first time and seeing families of adults and kids literally of all ages on the beach naked and really people couldn’t care less.
The whole “what about the perverts” thing is exaggerated. Creeps are everywhere. Rather you have naked supervised babies than anything else to keep the creeps out. It’s so stupid. Like creeps leave when you put clothes on. DUH!
Anyway, keep it up and tell that lady to mind her own business. Next time I suggest that the babies and YOU are naked in the pool and see what she says.
It is sad that nakey babies should be something negative and it is in the last years I have come into this discussion. Earlier, I didn´t even think about children and if they were naked or not. What parents do in their own home is one thing but is it necessary to put up pics on the web where the childrens´genitals are shown like above? It is about their privacy too and they will get very embarrassed when they grow older. I have nakey pics of myself but they stay in my mothers album but on the web?
Let kids be naked but why do you post the picture with the frontal nudity? Is that necessary to show her vagina in public? THAT is an insult to her right to privacy but otherwise tell people to mind their own business. What I do at home in MY house that I paid for with my OWN money is no ones concern….but I don´t like public pictures of a child where she is naked and her private parts are made public stuff. You are so prude in USA and you hardly see a thigh on adults …but a childs private parts are obviously public parts?
I was a naked baby/toddler/kid. My friends and I would skinny dip all summer in elementary school (that was in the backyard, granted), but when we’d travel I’d go to the beach naked/topless at all ages.
The fact of the matter is, there are a (few) perverts. Those perverts likely won’t care if the baby/child is clothed or unclothed. Perverts don’t seem to make the same distinctions as the rest of us in anything else, so why in clothing? And there just aren’t as many perverts as we all feel like there are.
I dofind myself a little more awkward with Jack – as a boy, he’s parts are so much more THERE, but I don’t hesitate to strip him down at the beach or elsewhere.
I was recently at Target having his picture taken in the little bathtub setup. He wanted to climb out of the tub, and when he did his diaper showed. I asked if I could take it off so that it was a cute “baby getting out of the tub” picture rather than “baby not sticking with his pose” picture. THey said no – that the company wouldn’t allow it past a “certain age”. They wouldn’t specify, but it shocks me that 8 months old is considered a “certain age”. Is he so much more sexual than a newborn? REally??? I think not.
I let my kids run naked on the lawn and play in the water. However, the neighbor 6 and 7 year olds came around to stare. I soon learned the back yard was better for my babies. Now they’re all grown and parents, too. So I’m sure I screwed them up totally since they are all happy and well-adjusted.
To hell with the people who are so ashamed of their own bodies.
It seems simple to just follow the law. Would you allow a 10-year old to be naked in public? What about a 15-year old? Where is the line drawn?
I would simply teach my children, by example, that there are rules you must follow. As with a person’s right to smoke, it shouldn’t be at the expense of everyone else’s right to not be exposed to it.
If you want your children naked, great. But others, including the law, do not share your interests. What you teach your children to do in private is your freedom. Don’t force your “free-spirit” onto others. It’s not about seeing them as sexual objects. I simply don’t want to see it.
One final note… the majority of people on the planet, DON’T think your kids are as cute as you do.