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Children Who Grew Up In Nudist Families Describe What It Was Like
Bodily Functions Can Be Embarrassing
From a Redditor:
One that sticks out in my mind was when I was pretty young, like maybe 4th or 5th grade. I was reading some book at home and something in it [visibly aroused me]. It wasn't even anything sexy, just something random, but it did make my parents wonder what the heck I was reading.
They Don't Stay Completely Unclothed When It's Cold
From a Redditor:
I live in Southern California so it rarely gets too cold. But during the few weeks it does, yeah, we wear more than usual.
Dancing Can Get Uncomfortable
From Redditor /u/mmmelbananas:
In the last night of our stay they held a dance party - I was wearing a sports bra and spandex shorts and was really feeling some Salt-N-Pepa when a man came over and started to dance in front of me. I was eye-level with his flailing [member]. I didn't quite know what to do. Fortunately, my mother saw this and removed me from the situation.
It could have been innocent, but I did not feel comfortable with it.
I would also see illegal photo shoots happening when I would go on nature walks. I knew about Playboy, so I knew what was happening, and that it was against the rules. [Our community] wasn't supposed to be about [being] "sexy" in these places, so these occurrences made me feel unsafe.
It Can Be Weird Seeing Crushes
From Redditor /u/mmmelbananas:
When I was little I thought [our way of life] was amazing! What's better than being able to run around [without clothes]?
However, when I was about 11, I was in the swimming pool and I saw a boy I thought was cute over in the hot tub. Now, seeing another kid my age [uncovered] was an infrequent occurrence so it never occurred to me that a boy I thought was cute would be [bare]. Well, he was...
It's Sometimes Awkward To Talk About In Public
From Redditor /u/mmmelbananas:
Because I didn’t see anything wrong with [being bare] I talked about it to other people. Once my parents told me I wasn’t allowed to talk about it, or other people would act like what I told them was wrong I started to understand. My next door neighbors mother told me that “while it is OK for your family, it is not something most families do or understand - it isn’t a secret, per se, but not something you talk about."
As a teenager there was much intrigue from my peers, because teenagers love anything that can be considered dramatic.
Even to this day people don’t respond to it favorably- it is just very unusual, especially where it involves children.
I grew up near Tahoe so we were at the beach almost every weekend of the summer! I liked the public beaches better because there were other kids (clothed) to play with. Old [unclothed] people are pretty low-key and boring.
Certain Sensitive Areas Burn Easily
From Redditor /u/mmmelbananas:
The problem with sunning sensitive areas that don't see the sun very often is that they burn, and BAD. I guess men might get sunburns on their nipples (never thought about it until now), but I can tell you I'd prefer NOT to.
One Person's Parents Installed Special Privacy Screens
From Redditor /u/mmmelbananas:
My parents had special screens installed where they could see out, but people couldn’t see in...
Being a city-dweller with close neighbors, I do try to "spare them the details" by limiting walking in front of windows [sans clothing].
The Lifestyle Isn't For Everyone
From Redditor /u/mmmelbananas:
I think that [this lifestyle] and [being] otherwise open-minded do not necessarily go hand in hand.
I stopped feeling comfortable being [uncovered] at about 11, and asked that [my parents] kept their [bareness] behind closed doors at about 13. I think being exposed to [uncovered individuals] was helpful in the way that I knew what different bodies looked like and understood [being without clothes] and sexuality were different things.
Unfortunately, my peers and society did what they could to diminish any confidence I had in my body - someone is always telling you, you are not enough of something or other: skinny, tall, long enough hair, freckle-free, etc.
So I think there were some definite pros to having been exposed to the... lifestyle, but aside from being open-minded to other people doing it and having an interest story, the positive effects are few.
People Excuse Themselves If They Get Excited
From a former Reddit user:
Walking around [visibly aroused] was obviously considered inappropriate and would get you kicked out. If that happened to me (and it did in my adolescent years sometimes), I would just excuse myself and go to the bathroom or something. It wasn't a constant problem though because everything is so mundane and routine.
Naturists Might Try to Keep Hugs To A Minimum
From a former Reddit user:
I always did the "lean-in, [bum] out" hug. And as a kid, I generally tried to keep hugs to the minimum anyways.
It's Smart To Travel With A Towel To Keep Things Sanitary
From a former Reddit user:
A lot of people had golf carts with storage that they drove around the place, or carried a bag. As a kid I rode a bike around everywhere and I had a little saddle bag thing that I would use sometimes. For the most part though the camp is set up to be paperless. There were a few places to eat and they all had a "tab" kind of system where you could just charge things to your name and come by once a week to add money or pay back what you used, etc. No real need for a whole bunch of keys or an ID or anything like that.
The only thing people carried around with them all the time was a towel, because it was considered rude (or gross?) to sit down someplace without putting a towel down first.
Teasing Is Always A Worry
From Redditor /u/cheerilee:
I was raised with it so it seemed very normal. When I became a teenager it became embarrassing but never disgusting... I became really self-conscious and didn't like the way I looked, so it was embarrassing to be [without clothes] around loads of strangers. I also didn't want my friends to find out and start teasing me.
The Lifestyle Might Make You More Body-Positive
From Redditor /u/Broken_Feather42:
I have a very positive body image, as do all my siblings.
I think the openness and natural living... brought us all closer together as a family. Without clothes, we were vulnerable to an extent, and that vulnerability helped [instill] in us a since of dependency upon one another, and also a deep bond of love. We had little to hide, and even our puberty years were less dramatic than many other's have been.
While we still fought and such as siblings, we were very close and still are to this day. We greet one another warmly, and have always been there for another.
Another thing is we have never really tried to hold ourselves up to the magical standards expected by society. My sisters don't wear much makeup, I and my brother aren't obsessed with muscles, that sort of thing.
Relatives Would Often Stop In And Visit
From Redditor /u/Broken_Feather42:
We were homeschooled, and we lived out in the country without close neighbors, so we didn't have many conventional friends.
However, since we have a huge family, relatives would often stop in and visit. That was usually interesting. We would never dress up for them or anything. We just went about normally. You could tell a lot of them were put off by this... not wanting to sit on the furniture and stuff.
Others didn't seem to mind too much. In fact, my favorite relatives were two second cousins I had, one a year older than me and one a year younger, both girls. Not only were they the nicest and most fun relatives, they would usually take their clothes off and go [sans clothing] with us.
