How To Practice Nudity In Your Family [How-To]

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
Despite the good intentions of many parents, prohibiting household nakedness can have negative consequences for children. In our media saturated urbanised world, children like this are primed with an appetite for nudity related subject matter (of which most is unhealthy.) It takes a bit of work for the affected parent, but you can get over this and help your children to avoid some of these pitfalls of modern living. Fortunately as a parent you have the unique opportunity to provide a healthy environment for nakedness right in the refuge of your own home. Disclaimer: The purpose here is not to promote public nudity as a method for this How To; quite the contrary (see Warnings section below). This guide is intended primarily as a tool for parents who want to teach their children a wholesome understanding of human nakedness. This How To is intended primarily for use by parents in their home.

Steps

• Encourage family nudity without being abnormal. Young children have not yet acquired a sophisticated understanding of modesty, and really don't care who sees them naked. This is the time when the parent can mould their conscience without making them self-conscious of nakedness. This, in turn, will help children associate nakedness to routine activity instead of exclusively naughty activity, helping illicit forms of nakedness to lose their appeal later in life.
• Allow your children - from birth - to see you in ordinary nude situations (e.g.- dressing, bathing or showering, using the toilet) or any activity where nudity is a natural part. By being comfortable with your own body you will naturally convey the message to your children that nudity really is okay and not something to fear. There are naturally times in life when clothes must be worn for protection, for comfort, and to adhere to societal norms. However, by talking with your children about being comfortable with nudity at home, your children will grow up understanding that being nude & being seen nude at home isn't something "uncool, horrible, and utterly embarrassing."
• Start allowing/encouraging family nudity during potty training & continue through the school age years and beyond. You'd be surprised how quickly potty training takes root when your toddler/preschooler is allowed to go bare at home, but...be prepared for occasional "accidents" as well, and handle these situations calmly without anger or revulsion.
• As they begin to recognise differences between themselves and you or your spouse, explain to them the reason for these differences. Suggested explanations are: "Mommy's breasts are for giving milk to babies like when you were small"? or "Mommy and daddy have hair down here because our bodies are warmer, and it helps keep our bodies cooler (by retaining sweat)."

Tips

• A focal point for nudity that enables the whole family to participate together is very helpful. An indoor swimming pool is ideal, but not practical for most families. Saunas are also excellent for this, but are not as common in the U.S. as Europe. Other water related ideas could be an outdoor pool below or above ground. A cheaper yet more practical idea that works year round would be a hot tub. Children see this as a heated kiddie swimming pool they can use water toys in too.
• A great side benefit to wholesome understandings of the naked body in the home is that when the time comes to explain human reproduction, there will be less tension from the children. They will not have the distraction of embarrassment when discussing (what for others can be) 'shameful' body parts. This in turn, will keep the communication lines open during adolescence.
• There are many great books on pregnancy and adolescence that separate the romantic (i.e. sexual) aspect from the physiological changes of puberty. These books provide a very neutral clinical look at breast and pubic hair growth during the teen years, and include very candid photos of actual births. Influences like these help separate nudity from sex in the child's mind, and provide a framework where family nudity can flourish to the benefit of all.
• Realise that not all shame is bad shame. Good shame is ingrained to help us avoid compromising situations. But other shame is the result of social conditioning during childhood, and unnecessarily predisposes us to clothes compulsiveness.
• Respect others' standards. One good approach is to point out that other people are not accustomed to nudity, and it's kind to respect their wishes. This may mean keeping the curtains drawn, or willingly closing the bathroom door when guests are present, for example -- a practice that encourages courtesy, but not shame.
• Young adolescents naturally develop increased modesty around the time of puberty. Don't force someone to be nude. Wearing pants for a while may help the transition. Being around other teens who role model comfort with their bodies will be reassuring.
• For families where the children are older it may be difficult to change attitudes. In some cases big decisions may need to be made in order to break free from habits. Such changes may include ridding the home of magazines (men's magazines, fashion, or sports related material), television, or other media that subtly foster a "nudity is sex"? mindset. Peers are also part of the equation. It may be necessary to move to another region to get a fresh start. Teenagers especially are very keen on whether the parents walk the talk, so if a parent still models these attitudes so will the teens.
• The goal is to provide children the opportunity to see nakedness in a way that is almost non-existant in our society: to make it a neutral, non-sensuous part of everyday life in its proper context. This goes a long way toward innoculating them from the enticements so easily found outside the walls of your home and in the marketplace.

Warnings

• Be careful about with whom you share your family practices. Not all people will easily come to the conclusions you intended. Nudity and sex are still considered to be related in our society; this stems partly from puritanical attitudes, but also from decades of hedonistic influence by the swingers movement, from influences such as Hedomism II in Jamaica, the SunnyDaze Resort in Colorado, and events like Nudes-a-Poppin in Indiana.
• Although this should be obvious to any well-meaning parent, care is advised during moments of intimacy and marital relations. Since the genitalia are a major source of pleasure during these times, be careful to instead emphasise the primary functions (birth canal, urination) of genitals to younger children. Anything beyond that may overpower their emotional stage of development and work against the wholesome environment you are trying to maintain. Marital intimacy is best left behind closed doors.
• Avoid exposing children to nude photography from fine art, or internet sources as some of this has a subtly skewed pornographic message that untrained eyes will not immediately recognise. The best example is you, your spouse, and older siblings or relatives who bring a very real element to human nakedness.
• Exercise proper hygiene. When exercising family nudity, always encourage/require the use of a towel for sitting. As any parent can tell you, young children don't always exercise the very best cleaning methods after using the potty. Don't be embarrassed about teaching good, healthy personal toileting hygiene to your children. They look to you to teach them properly and correctly.

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Why Do We Give Children Such Confusing Messages About Their Bodies? [Family]]

This article is from the Mail Online by Liz Fraser, publish on 28 April 2011:

Last week, during one of the hottest Easter holidays on record in the UK, my three children and I went to the local park.

It was sweltering, and after an hour or so of running about with a football, my daughter, Phoebe, who has just turned 11, had turned into a sweaty, par-boiled lobster and desperately wanted to take her T-shirt off to cool down. But she didn’t.

When I asked her why on earth not, she said in an exasperated voice, as if I didn’t understand anything, ‘Mum, I can’t take my top off in a park. People will stare and point!’

Once I’d picked my jaw up off the grass and tried to make sense of what she’d just said, I realised to my utter dismay that her fears were probably completely justified.

Where boys often take their tops off in the hot summer months, many girls, even as young and totally undeveloped as my younger daughter, already feel that they ‘shouldn’t’ expose their top halves in public. Because their nakedness is somehow . . . wrong.

To realise that my own daughter already feels this way came as a real shock to me. I was raised by parents who never shied away from stripping off and jumping in a mountain lake or sunbathing topless on the beach, and I was never even aware of my own nakedness as a pre-pubescent girl. Naked or not — it made no difference to me. I felt totally free, and happy.

Now a parent myself, I’m trying to raise my children similarly: we are very comfortable with our own nakedness at home, and I still often share a bath with my younger children, both Phoebe and Charlie, who’s 7, and quite happily get undressed in front of them.



Liz Fraser believes that millions of children in Britain, have been indoctrinated with the idea that nakedness is rude, naughty or shameful

They see nothing strange about it at all, and the little ones aren’t shy about dancing around naked. They’re kids, after all!

But despite all this ease around nudity within the family environment, they have picked up on the message from outside our home that showing naked flesh in public is something unthinkable, even for children.

They, like millions of children in Britain, have been indoctrinated with the idea that nakedness is rude, naughty or shameful — and that it’s always, always connected with sex.

Though the children are thankfully too young to know about such a gruesome thing, the public’s media-fuelled terror of paedophilia is now so strong that many parents don’t want their children to be seen naked by strangers ‘just in case’ they are photographed and put onto the internet, or peered at by sexual predators.

A naked child has become, for many, a potential sex abuse incident, rather than the beautiful, pure thing it is, despite the reality, which is that — mercifully — abuse by paedophiles is far less prevalent than the furore that surrounds them would imply.

Turning the clock back to the Seventies when I was a pre-schooler, hot summers were all about wearing almost nothing, and our photo albums are bursting with pictures of us as children, naked and happy.

There we’d all be in the local paddling pool or swimming pool, splashing and shrieking happily in nothing but our pants, and often not even that. And nobody minded at all.

Then when I was ten we moved to the South of France for a while, and I remember everyone sunbathing topless, completely relaxed about it. Nobody thought about ‘covering up’ to hide their bodies.

In the local swimming pool, showers were communal and we’d all strip and get washed and changed side by side in the middle of the changing room, chatting away as we did so. Nobody stared. Nobody found it embarrassing or weird. It was considered as normal as brushing one’s teeth.

But when I came back to Britain the following year, the rules for girls my age seemed completely different to the ones abroad. I found that in the changing rooms everyone locked themselves away in separate cubicles, to change in private, ashamed to let their nakedness be seen. If they had to change on the beach they’d perform a bizarre hopping dance ritual under a towel, attempting to remove pants, while putting on bikini bottoms simultaneously, without showing an inch of Forbidden Flesh. Not even for a millisecond.

None of my friends swam or sunbathed topless. Instead, they hid themselves away, squeezing their pubescent breasts into bikinis whose purpose was, paradoxically, to make the wearer look sexier than if they had nothing on at all. It seemed that wearing sexy swimwear was OK, but to be naked and natural wasn’t. Which I found very confusing.

And to be honest, I still do. Beaches this summer will be full of toddlers wearing bikini tops. One mum I know impressed upon her daughter: ‘It’s to keep your boobies covered up.’ Her what?! She’s three years old!

I always bought one-piece swimsuits or just bikini bottoms for my girls when they were little. Why would I want them to wear a bikini top that’s designed to cover breasts, which they quite clearly haven’t got?

Most damaging in all of this is the bizarre paradox that this whispering, blushing shunning of nakedness comes hand in hand with our culture’s obsession with sex and sexuality.

As a scientist friend of mine, and father of one, put it: ‘Public nudity is a crime here, and yet pornography and hypersexual advertising is everywhere in the UK and North America.




Songs of innocence: 'Compare this [Britain] to other countries, where nudity is seen as part of life, and where children are raised without ever thinking to question it'

‘The ever-present appearance of sex and sexual messages in our culture and media goes along with fear and horror at actual nudity — and causes all kinds of problems for people’s sexual activity and self-confidence.’

When nudity is considered unacceptable, but highly-charged sexual messages in advertising and pop videos are not, is it any surprise that so many children are growing up with a confused attitude to their bodies, or feeling ashamed to take their tops off in a park when they’re hot?

What’s even more extraordinary is that violence and bad language are tolerated far more liberally than nudity on television and in films, especially in the U.S. and UK.

Millions of children every day are sitting down to watch programmes that show grim acts of violence or aggression, yet when it comes to showing a naked breast in a shower the censors come down like a ton of bricks and insist it’s covered up, or blurred.

The message our children pick up is that blasting each other to pieces and using foul, aggressive, threatening language is fine and dandy, but showing a nipple? Perish the thought!

Compare this to other countries, where nudity is seen as part of life, and where children are raised without ever thinking to question it. One former classmate, who is Spanish and has a two-year-old daughter, commented: ‘Kids run around naked in Spain on beaches and in parks in the good weather and it’s totally normal.’

Another friend, who is Swedish, but now lives in Canada, told me: ‘Canada is on a par with the U.S. in terms of excessive prudishness. When we go to the beach, it’s the Swedish mums who let their toddlers run around naked — and they get lots of dirty looks from their Canadian counterparts!’

And so despite the fact that I appear to be in the distinct minority, I continue to fight hard against our very British culture of bizarre, unhelpful prudishness.I still change in the middle of the changing room at my local pool, without adopting body-shielding tactics. I know my children find this a little bit odd, and probably wish I didn’t. When nobody else is naked, why is Mummy?

Well, because Mummy happens to think that there’s nothing wrong with it and she’d rather teach her children that their bodies are beautiful and natural just as they are, and don’t need dressing up in sexy clothes or to be hidden from view to be acceptable.

SOUCRE: Mail Online

Birth Announcements of Life and Bare Times [GOOD NEWS]

DejaNude announces the birth of her 1st newborn child, Ashley David. Additionally, DejaNude announces a website she will be launching in collaboration with Young Naturists America called The Bare Times (http://BareTimes.org). Tho celebrate the New Years and share the launch party with the world, The Bare Times Nude Year Launch Party will be streamed LIVE at a nudist resort onto their brand new website between 7pm-MIDNIGHT. More info found on www.BareTimes.org.

A massive congratulations for DejaNude first child. I wish her all the best!!!

Swimmers' Bare Cheek Leaves Parents Fuming [Blast From The Past]

This article was taken from The South Manchester Reporter (3 April 2008):

PARENTS are refusing to let their children swim in Levenshulme baths – because it’s being hired for naked male swimming sessions.

Over the past nine months the pool has been hired out on a Thursday evening for private naturist group called Naked Swim.

The group hires one of the two pools and is given use of the saunas, while regular public adults-only swimming takes place in the second pool.

But now local mums have learned about the sessions, some want them stopped.

They say their problem is not that the sessions are for gay men – but that it is inappropriate that people are bathing in the nude in a public pool.

Manchester council has moved to reassure people that the sessions pose no hygiene or privacy risk but some mums are so concerned that they have pulled their children out of swimming lessons at the baths in protest.

Elaine Howarth said she had complained to staff at the swimming pool, but was told they could not see what the fuss was about.

She said: "I’m all for people having their own get-togethers, but why do they have to be naked? It just doesn’t seem right," she said.

All the local schools use the baths for their swimming lessons but most of the mothers I’ve been speaking to are now not going to allow their children to go anymore. It’s horrible to think about." Another mum, Lynne Mills, said she had pulled her son out of his lessons.

She is now considering using another pool.

She said: "I thought this was a joke when I first heard about it. This is a community pool used by OAPs and children. I am concerned about the hygiene aspect – they don’t let children in pools without wearing clothes, so why should it be different for adults?"

"We have told my son that we think he’s too good for those lessons now. Someone from Levenshulme baths phoned me this week to ask if he would be coming back and I told them no and the reason why not. All the mums I know are doing the same. I’m gutted about it because I’d like to support the local pool, but it just doesn’t seem right."

A spokeswoman for Manchester City council said: "This private session has been running since June 2007 with absolutely no problems and the public can be reassured there are no issues surrounding hygiene or privacy.

"This is no less sanitary than bathing with a swimsuit and our pools are well maintained, filtered and chlorinated to maintain high standards of cleanliness for all swimming sessions.

"The group meets in a completely private session in pool two, which is closed to other members of the public, and does not affect other visitors in any way.

"Manchester City Council is totally committed to equality and does not accept discrimination of any kind. The pool is available to hire by any groups regardless of their faith, race, gender or sexuality."

The baths have received two direct complaints about the group – for gay people – one written and one verbal.

Jeni Quirke, of the Lesbian and Gay Foundation, said: , told the MEN: "Naked Swim is a naturist group and whether it is for gay men or not is irrelevant."

"It should not be considered any different from a heterosexual naturist group. It’s all above board, it’s not seedy, it’s just a social networking group."

The organisers of Naked Swim were so far unavailable for comment.

A MEETING is being held by the Friends of Levenshulme, to discuss the stage in their campaign to push for regeneration in the district.

Residents are asked to go along to plan how to organise a hustings event before the local elections on May 1.

SOURCE: The South Manchester Reporter

The Naked Truth on Family Nudity [Parents & Family]

This article is from Parents.com:

A Parents.com expert resolves one mom and dad's disagreement about being naked in front of their kids:

Q. My wife thinks there's nothing wrong with taking a bath naked with our two boys, even though they are now 1 and 3. Frankly, this makes me uncomfortable. I say it's time she covered up in front of our children, but she thinks I'm being a prude. How can we resolve this difference without arguing about it anymore?

Read The Whole Article @ Parents.com

What Does Your Husband Really Think Of Your Wobbly Bits? [Body Image]

This article is from Mail Online:



Five brave women find out - and the answers are surprising and endearing

Could you bear to hear the truth about what your spouse really thinks of your naked body? Does she loathe your love handles? Does he secretly wish you’d tone up that tummy? Here, five brave couples shed their clothes and reveal their innermost thoughts about their partner’s bodies...

[Pictured above:] Karen Phillips-Craig, 32, is an outreach support worker and husband Mark, 38, is a hotel maintenance manager and retained fireman. They’ve been together for 11 years and married for six, and have a son Kieron, ten and daughter, Megan, seven. They live in Penrith, Cumbria.

Read The Whole Article @ Mail Online

Another Good Reason For You And Family To Become Naturist: Rickets On The Rise In Britain's Children [NEWS]

According to Sky News (UK), rickets on the rise in Britain's children:

"There has been a marked increase in the number of children suffering from rickets because parents are putting too much sunscreen on them or keeping them indoors. Rickets was common in the early 1900s but had almost disappeared from Britain. However, a recent study carried out by Professor Nicholas Clarke, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Southampton General Hospital, found there were 185 cases in 2001 and that figure rose to 479 cases in 2009. The data was from 42 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) which responded to the survey.


Professor Clarke said: "I saw an infant a month ago who was referred to me because of delayed walking. The child was 15 months old and could not stand physically." He acknowledges the balance parents have to strike, but lifestyle changes concern him greatly. "It's very difficult for parents because they're encouraged to apply sunscreen because of the dermatological consequences of not. "But it would seem that that excess is too much for bone health and vitamin D. They're shutting out the sunshine which is causing problems with bones.


"Similarly children and adolescents don't go out as much; there aren't as much school sports and when they do go out they tend to cover up."

The NHS states that rickets is a rare disease that affects bone development in children. It causes the softening and weakening of bones, which can lead to deformities, such as bowed legs and curvature of the spine.

The most common cause of rickets is a lack of vitamin D or calcium in the diet. These minerals are essential for a child to form strong healthy bones. Less commonly, children can be born with genetic forms of rickets or develop rickets if underlying conditions affect the absorption of vitamins and minerals (see Causes).

BUT there is GOOD NEWS! One of the major benefits of naturism is the constant exposure of the sun on one's skin, as New Zealand Naturist Federation explains:


"Naturism has many health benefits, despite the negative publicity on the risk of skin cancer from too much sun exposure. It is a known fact that sun BURN leads to skin cancer but not sun EXPOSURE.


The holistic approach of the naturist philosophy goes much further than just lying about in the sun and getting an all over suntan. In a survey of New Zealand naturists, less than 20% said that their favourite activity at their club was sunbathing. The office worker who spends two weeks of his summer holidays at the beach would be at far greater risk of sun BURN than the hardened naturist. The area of skin covered by a bathing suit doesn't really make much difference when out in the sun - the same precautions have to be taken naked or in togs. That said, sun protection is ALWAYS advisable when out in the sun, especially between 10am-2pm in the summer months.


There is a lot of literature on the benefits of the sun on the body, due to the production of vitamin D in response to sun exposure. With people ‘covering up’ outdoors, there are more and more cases of rickets in the population, which is directly due to lack of vitamin D. The recommended ‘dose’ of sunlight on the total body, required to maintain adequate vitamin D levels, is considered by many specialists to be half the time it takes to burn per day. Not only does it feel good, but the sun has been documented to be beneficial in the prevention of a large number of diseases, from rickets to some forms of cancer (including melanoma), arthritis, osteoporosis, diabetes and cardiovascular disease."


The NHS has put a page together to fully explain what rickets is, its treatment and prevention. However, iNAKED does recommend considering naturism as part of the prevention of rickets. Click here to out more about naturism and how it could benefit you and your family.

Rickets - NHS Choices
The Benefits of Naturism | iNAKED
Rickets: New Study Shows Marked Increase In Bone Disease From Victorian Times Thanks To Lack Of Sun | UK News | Sky News
Kellogg's adds vitamin D to cereal to fight rickets - Telegraph
Rickets rise battle to be led by breakfast cereals 'adding sunshine' | Metro.co.uk

Couple Get Married Naked [Video]

Kelly Clinton and Lee Wiggets walked down the isle naked after winning a competition on a Birmingham radio station.

The Naked Wedding | BRMB
Couple get married naked - YouTube

Solair Nudist Resort [Video]

Interviews with members describe what life is like at Solair. Solair is a member owned and operated, family oriented nudist resort, founded in 1935.

Nude Family With Mac Portrait [Photo]

I stumbled across this photo via the Cult of Mac website. According to them the photo is a cover for a Romanian magazine for a special issue dedicated to family portraits.

As Cult of Mac has started a caption contest for this photo, we decided to do the same. So keep it clean and make it funny in the comments below.

Naturism: These images contain nudity - Reuters at Bare Oaks [Video]

By Mark Blinch

When you’re a photographer, every day brings the unexpected.

Case in point: My assignment at the Bare Oaks Family Naturist Park.

Imagine a campground where people perform everyday tasks but without a stitch of clothing on.

Mowing the lawn, coffee with friends, dinnertime with family members, even board meetings with colleagues — at this camp, there were no exceptions to the no clothes rule...

[READ MORE/SEE VIDEO]

TEXT: Reuters