Tag: children

Ohhhh, yes. Touchy topic. I know.

That’s why I pick it.

To kick in an open door: children are the future. I am quite certain that most people will agree with that.

Children, then, are also the future of naturism, nudism, the clothes-free lifestyle, or whatever label you care to slap on it.

We all (almost all?) know that kids prefer to run around naked when they’re young. Of course, there will always be exceptions, like Inuit children, but even on good days I can imagine they want to run around nude in the snow. When there’s no wind, and abundant sunshine, what’s not to like?

I think it’s strange that adults, who probably happily ran around naked when they were kids, are so persistent in trying to prevent children to ‘appear’ in a naturist environment. “Because it will mess them up,” is an expression that I once heard.

The crazy thing about this is, that it’s the adults who are already messed up (by society, norms, religion, culture etc). And it’s so bad with them that they have forgotten (repressed?) the fact that they were nude kids once themselves.

About a month ago, here in town, it was very warm. I had to go get something and crossed the central square, where since a few years a water display has been set up, with jets spouting up in unpredictable places. There was one mother who had stripped her very young daughter down to the skin, and the girl had all the fun in the world running after the jets, trying to guess where the next one came from.

I loved how lots of people laughed at her antics, and no one made any weird comments about decency and shameful behaviour. I also noticed that no one had a phone in hand to take pictures. (Had I seen that, I would have stopped that. It was not their child, after all.)

No, folks. The kids won’t be messed up being naked and among naturists. They’re being messed up by people who got messed up as adults.

Ouch… Children. Difficult topic! Sensitive issue!

But not for naturists.

Who doesn’t know this kind of image? A young child, having fun at the beach. And, indeed, not wearing a swimsuit.

I’m sure we’ve all seen this once or twice in our lives.

And why is there this switch in many people’s mind that tells them to put something on the body of their child at an uncertain age? Uncertain because this age seems to differ from parent to parent.

We all know that nudity is normal. At least, we should know that. It is how we and all other living creatures come into this world. No clothes, no nothing.

As I was thinking about this, I went out onto the world wide web to find out what that thought of this. The results weren’t surprising…

“Your Kids Table“: When kids have sensory issues with clothing it can be overwhelming, confusing, and exhausting.

Hmm. That says something, doesn’t it? Hardly surprising, because clothing isn’t natural. It can be necessary, but that’s something else.

“Today’s Parent“: “Children ages three to five are learning to dress and undress themselves, and often enjoy this independence and the feeling of being naked. Taking off their clothes may also be a way to protest, or to seek attention.”

The feeling of being naked. Well, if that doesn’t ring some bells…

And then there’s this question on Quora.com: Is it normal for my child to hate wearing clothes?

The top answer here is seriously sensible:

It’s perfectly normal and natural for children to prefer being naked. Any clothing is less comfortable than not wearing clothing, and other than to stay warm when it’s cold out, they don’t understand why they should have to wear it.

Most kids gradually give into their parents demands that they get and stay covered up, but sometimes takes years before they’re fully conditioned to be ashamed and embarrassed of themselves when they’re not wearing clothes. Not that it’s a good thing that they should ever think of themselves that way, but that’s the result.

Each child is different. Most kids will happily stay naked when you let them be naked, and personally, I believe there’s a lot more to be gained down the road by letting them be naked as often as possible unless there’s a reason they have to be clothed (out of the house or when guests come to visit).

It’s nice in our case to have happy naked grand-kids to remind us of how our kids and how we felt about wearing clothes at their age.

Rick Orlando, Father of two now grown kids.

Clothes protect us from the cold, from getting hurt and even from sunburns if there are no other options, but seriously… stubbing the full human sensory experience for the ‘sake’ of this clothing fetish that goes around… isn’t that taking things a lot too far?

Note upfront: I have no children. I desire no children. I do desire children to have the best youth and life they can possibly have.

Let me kick off a few questions at the start. Do you have children? Did you take them nude venues like beaches and resorts when they were young? And if you did, do you think they suffered from it?

I somehow doubt they did. At our local nude beach I have seen kids play, swim and have fun, and no one had any issue with it. Hooray for free minds and people who feel good about being naked. I am sure you all agree.

This topic has been on my mind a while, especially since the number of protests from textile ignorants who claim that children should not be present at a naked swim organised by British Naturism.

Something that crawls up on me is the persistent refusal of these people to at least come and have a look. (Which would go against their textile habits, of course.) But how do they know that children will be harmed at such venues? We all know that kids are as safe as peas in a pod, but they don’t. They base their opinion on what happens in their world. The clothed, covered world, where nudity is a taboo.

Such people condemn us like they would condemn child molesters without knowing any better.

I for one am very glad that the owner of the water park, Mr Chaudry, spoke out against these people’s allegations, stating that the popular Stoke-on-Trent tourist attraction has been ‘unjustly accused of encouraging paedophiles’.

Good on Mr Chaudry. There should be more open minds like him around.

My parents weren’t naturists so their children weren’t brought up with the naturist idea. Still they were open-minded enough to let us choose our own paths and ways. I’m glad I walked down Nudist Lane, so to speak. Granted, I wasn’t a child any more, but I was still “young enough” in starting to fully enjoy it, knowing I would do so for a long time. Now I’m 59 and it seems as if I enjoy being clothes-free more and more each year. I have no explanation for it and I darn well don’t need one.

If everyone’s kid would just be so lucky – and have an earlier start!

Children should be immersed in the lifestyle and later given the choice to continue or leave. It’s a part of growing up and making educated choices. Unlike those who remain in the textile realm and condemn us, the ones who know how good it is (mentally and physically) to shed our clothes and enjoy life the way we were born.

To everyone, including children, I proclaim:

BN (Be Naked), not BS!