Ever since the invention of the film camera, parents have been taking naked pictures of their kids. My mother certainly had plenty of such photos of us from infant "bare rug" shots, to us in the tub or kiddie pool together, to us just running around and playing naked, which was pretty much our right at home when it was just family around.
That was back in the day when the clerk at the store would check the photos on arrival for quality, but before anyone would ever think to question any parent about those shots. Mom would torture us by showing off the photos to her friends, but in the end, we stopped caring. My wife even used a few of the shots with my older sister and I on a poster board she made for my 50th birthday party. I took some ribbing about "now we know what you look like naked" from friends and co-workers. If they only knew...
Further revealing my age, our son is married and now has a son and a daughter of his own. I married my wife with her family in progress from an earlier marriage to a jerk who would have made our lives miserable if I tried to raise "his" kids as nudists. Our son (technically, my step-son) is married to a wonderful, but very conservative lady who I doubt approves of casual nudity, period. Her husband, our son, certainly knows his mother and I are pretty casual about it between the two of us, but he doesn't know all the details of my background in social naturism, the way our daughter does.
Either way, it's sad to watch them so ruthlessly clothe their kids. Around their house, bathing and diaper changing is the only time they're not compulsively imprisoned in clothing. We go up and visit about once a month for a few nights at a time and sometimes when they're away we let the kids play in their kiddie pool, diaper free.
The last time we were up and the two were away, my wife went a bit crazy taking several dozens of pictures of their kids, completely naked, in their pool and running around the yard with me in the pictures. Granted, they have a huge back yard which is completely fenced in, but I'm quite sure their mother would not approve, even though my wife and I stayed clothed.
When my wife asked me to send the pictures from the visit, I "neglected" to send the naked pictures, and I got roundly chewed out by her because of that. I guess I'm still sensitive about being a nudist male and people assuming that I must be some kind of pervert, even a potential pedophile, for being around naked kids.
It's unfortunate the stigma regarding children exists, but it extends beyond just being naked. I wanted to allow my young kids to go alone to climb a tree in the park. I was warned by neighborhood parents that if any park-goer complained, the police would likely be called and as a parent, I risk child protective services taking them away. For climbing a tree! Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to go back to the good old days. When I was a kid, we could do anything. Introduce nudity and your last sentence it spot on.
ReplyDeleteI'd caution against allowing young kids to be unsupervised.
DeleteYeah, back then, parents didn't worry much if we climbed trees that were way out of our league expecting that we'd use "good judgement". Which we often didn't. Be that as it may, we're still here.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually surprised that my siblings carried on the tradition with their kids. Their kids were welcome to take off their clothes, play, and interact with adults naked anytime they wanted to, as long as it was just family around. And this from a family which would have never considered themselves to have "nudist tendencies". Whatever that means.