Can I be "modest" with you?

I grew up naked.  Literally.  Practically half my baby and toddler picuters I'm missing some, if not all of my clothes.  In fact, there is one extremely cute picture of me riding a little tricycle naked.  In our house this was never a problem.  It was totally normal to be taking a shower and someone to come in looking for their toothbrush or asking to use the restroom, which I normally wouldn't mind unless they had to poop, then I'd turn them down... LOL  It was also not unheard of for a friend and I to walk in the door to my mom vacuuming in a t-shirt and undies, as many of my friends have experienced. :)

So naturally, my kids are growing up the same way.  Cooper frequently asks to "go naked", and Chloe often removes her diaper, runs into the room, pounding on her chest like Tarzan screaming "I NAKEY!"  Now from a mommy point of view this great for potty training of course, but even if it wasn't for potty training, I'd have no problem with naked kiddos.  Of course, if we're having company they'll have to put something on and they can't go outside naked, but in the privacy of our own home I'm in the "who cares" state of mind.  What can it hurt?

It did take some work to get to this point though.  When I met the husband he was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum.  He was taught to wake up and get dressed for the day, immediately, even having to put shoes on, just to walk around the house, and he by no means was ever allowed to go around naked.  No way.  So it took a little work on my part to get him to "open up" a little especially when we moved in our own house.  He would still close the door EVERYTIME he went to the bathroom.  We're husband and wife for Pete's sake!  But he eventually came around.

So this pool party we had attended last Saturday was the first time my kids encountered "going nakey" in public.  After the pool we all had to shower off in the community shower.  As a parent, there was no issue here.  The kids took off their swim pants and swim diapers and showered off, but for me, I had to put some thought into this.

Now when I was younger, maybe 18 or 19, I went to the water park at Elitches.  We were finished for the day and I went into the bath house.  There were TONS of moms and kids in there getting ready to swim or ready to leave, but everyone who was changing into or out of swim suits was using the stalls, so of course they were all full.  Well I'm not extremely shy or conservative, so I thought, "Screw it. I'm not waiting for a stall", and proceeding to strip naked right in the dressing area.  Now for me this wasn't a big deal, but several of the moms seemed offended by this, one even shielded her daughter's eyes.  At the time I thought this was ridiculous.  I got dressed and left, then told they husband (at that time the boyfriend) about this experience and how silly I thought these moms were.

Fast forward to last Saturday at the pool.  I showered in my suit, but then it came time to remove my suit and change into my clothes.  I looked around the bath house.  There were several pre-teen girls, a few moms, and some younger girls who had also attended the pool party, maybe 7 or 8 years old.  Then I realized, who am I to decide what these girls have to see or not see?  If these were my children or young teens in this locker room, would I want them to have to see someone they don't know get naked?  Who knows how this children have been raised and what they think is appropriate or inappropriate.  That's not my call. I then understood why I had recieved such a negative response to my nudity in the Elitches locker room...

Although I'm definitely not conservative, and certainly don't teach my children to be, there's a level of respect that must be shown for others and their points of view, which I think is a main part of parenting altogther.  Parents don't do everything the same and don't look at things the same way.  Some are strict and some are laid back.  Some are conservative, some are not. Some spank, and some don't.  Some yell, and some won't.  And some are somewhere in the middle.  So as parents we need to stop comparing and debating, and just have respect for each other and each other's way of doing things.  After all, these are MY kids, are they not? :)