one of the husbands most favorite ‘let’s embarrass Ali’ stories comes up in many a conversation.
Josh was young. about 2, probably. i had just gotten out of the shower and was in my bedroom, in a bathrobe. we were playing on the floor. he looked up, pointed at my nether regions and said, point blank: "Mommy, what’s that?" hum dee dum. "Well, sweetie. that’s mommy’s vagina" *crickets* "ooooh…sccaaaaaary" he said with a shudder.
this moment, while hilariously enjoyable to tell people, marked a moment for me. one where i no longer felt comfortable parading naked in front of my son. not that there was much parading, sickos…but you know what i mean. walking from the shower to my drawers in the morning while getting ready for work. but, gone were those days. now i have to send the boy downstairs so i can get dressed in peace.
but, interestingly, it’s only with Josh. i don’t feel uncomfortable or weird being naked in front of my girls. there is the moment here and there where Isabella becomes fascinated by my nipples (and is usually laughing at them) or Emily asks why my v-strings are so small…but i don’t know, it just doesn’t feel strange. most of the time, it’s as if they don’t really take any notice at all.
i feel like, for me, it will be one of those things that i’ll just know. somewhere along the line it will feel not right. kind of like what happened with Josh.
what about all of you?
I bathed with Scott (he is now six as you know) up until he was about 4, at which point he was getting more curious and I felt uncomfortable. But .. Andy still bathes him, but recently I have noticed he tucks down his privates lol, or sometime wears a bathing suit. Actually, I have worn a bathing suit on a recent occasion. As far as walking around naked, I don’t hide myself from him, but I also don’t go around parading as I feel that is in-appropriate. But .. we all go to the bathroom with the door open, often I am hopping out of the shower when Scott walks in to use the toilet. I think it is all about how comfortable we feel and how curious they are. If Scott ever mentions anything inappropriate, which was maybe once, I just tell him how to behave. I don’t wnat him getting all curious and peeping down girls shirts etc, better to get his curiosity out at home.
I really want to instill in my children a self-confidence about their own bodies and a healthy sexuality. For this reason, we do not cover ourselves up in front of our kids, girl 9, boy 6, girl 3.5. My son looks at me a bit longer than the girls do when I am naked, but I would rather he look at me now, instead of feeling like a naked woman is a ‘forbidden’ thing. I want my girls (and son) to know that even though I am heavy and have a differently shaped body, it doesn’t mean I need to cover it up from my family.
If my son had said “scary” about my genitals, I just would have said “well, it looks a bit different because I’m a grownup, but it’s not scary” and continued on with what I was doing.
Anyways, everyone does the right thing for their families, and I just wanted to share what I do with mine.
I’m like Lav. I wouldn’t bathe with my son or parade around naked but if I have to run from the bathroom to my bedroom I don’t care. He doesn’t even notice.
I was one of three girls and some of my fondest memories were chatting to my mom as she soaked in the tub. My sisters and I did this into our teens!
I think if either you or your child are uncomfortable, whatever the age, you should stop.
I heard that 17 months was the cut off for parading nude…. With the monkey, I don’t care. But, I DO get embarrassed when she points at MY nether regions, giggles and says “INA”! Especially since, being preggers, I can’t even see it myself! 😉
okay so i am a bit of a nudist but with a teenage son i have to keep my naked self upstairs where he isn’t.i’ve never been uptight about being nekkid around my children while they are young and they don’t think anything of it now
I shower/bathe with my daughter now (she’s 26 months) without a washcloth or anything like that. She will also watch me use the washroom. In many of these instances, she will remark that I do, indeed, have a penis. She follows this up with “penises are private,” which is what we’ve taught her.
It goes without saying that, like you, I walk from the bathroom to the dresser in front of her as well.
At some point we will stop this and she will have to “give daddy privacy” but for now we’re not too worried about it.
I’ve wondered more than once at what point that will happen with my girls. Neil bathed with them when they were babies, up until the point they tried to lift up the hand towel he used to cover his groin area.
Like you, I’m thinking/hoping I’ll just know.