Naked Time

[dharmamama]

I know that a lot of people have what they call "naked time" with their kids, during which their kids can run around naked. At our house, it's pretty much "clothed time," time when our daughter has to wear clothes: when we're going out or when we're playing outside. The rest of the time is basically naked time. Now that she's getting older and having friends over to play, I have started encouraging her to wear clothes when her friends are here. I always say something like "It's polite to be ready to play when your friends get here." I *don't* say "You need to wear clothes when other people are here" because I don't want to make her feel like being naked is bad. But, on the other hand, I don't necessarily think it's apprpriate for her to be running around buck naked when we have visitors. I think that other people with kids would be ok with it, but I'm not sure people who don't have kids would be comfortable with it. Also, I know that when I am visiting other people, I don't necessarily like to have their naked kids sit on me, and my daughter loves to sit on visitors' laps, whether she's naked or clothed.

So, I don't want to make my daughter feel self-conscious or ashamed (I know that modesty will kick in on its own in a few years), but I also feel that if we invite people over, we should make them feel comfortable, including the wearing of clothes (and the practical matter of not making her friends wait on her to get dressed if they decide to go outside). Today a friend of mine from out of town stopped by, and without saying why, we just insisted that she at least wear underwear when Matt was here. She opted to get completely dressed, but we felt bad for insisting.

Ideas?

Namaste!

[Marlena]

Why is it bad to gently teach that one should be clothed when in the presence of others outside the family, unless everyone has come to a consensus that being naked is ok?