Though I'm a very liberal woman, I've seen enough people affected by sexual abuse to know that exposing your kids to your nudity isn't necessarily healthy for them. Fact is, as your son approaches puberty, you will be his sexual reference for "nude/naked woman". You're intention is not to get him sexually turned on yet that is exactly the effect that walking around nude will have on him. He will use you and your body for his masturbation fantasies and that indeed could mess up a child. Not to mention you walking from the bathroom to bedroom nude once a day shows an incredible lack of boundaries (I find it hard to believe you never thought to wear a robe or towel)which makes me think there's probably other areas where you don't respect your kids' boundaries. You should respect your children as individuals and accept that they need boundaries for healthy emotional growth. Your son shouldn't have to leave the room or tell you that your nudity bothers him, you should be more sensitive to his needs.

Do yourself a favor and do some research on the sexual abuse of boys. You might be disturbed by how your nudity actually affects your son.

I completely agree that you're "allowed" to run around naked in front of your young kids, Naked vs. Nekkid, but only if you are really, truly, comfortable in your own skin. What is really damaging for children -- especially young girls -- is hearing, "Oh, I am so fat and disgusting...but YOU are perfect." If you can model true confidence and grace in relating to your body, that is a gift that your daughter will thank you for. Real beauty lies in who you are, and your children should learn that from you as soon as possible instead of spending years in therapy trying to cope with the toxic beauty magazine culture that is so pervasive in our society.

what a joke! my father was very frequently naked around me and my brother our entire childhood (I am a guy too). so what? was ever inappropriately touching us? no. this is a country where people freak out if they see a woman breast feeding in public.

This girl I dated in college told met that she actually had to ask her father to start wearing clothes around when shew as about 6 or 7. he just hadn't thought anything of it. he actually was one of these guys that referred to "private parts" by their anatomically correct names. this girl was one of the least repressed and screwed up women I have ever known. Probably had to do with her family being atheist instead of worhsipping in some monotheistic religion.

A friend of mine who is the parent of a 6 year old still has the child sleeping with his mother in the same bed. or when they are all together on weekends, the three of them sleep together in one bed. what would those ridiculous child psychologists say about that? never mind that this kind of arrangement was quite common until recently- even in the west. that's not to say that screwing in front of the kid is ok. but it's not like you are fully clothed in bed.

give me a break.

It just really shocks me and not in a bad way, I guess it just never occurred to me, that even women would feel uncomfortable seeing there own mothers naked? But could that be because their parents could afford such modesty. Some nakedness was quite necessary in our household with one bathroom and a working mother. And I know in my grandparents house where there were 4 children, married parents, and only one bathroom, the boys got ready with the boys and the girls with the girls.

How funny that the wasps would have such a heart attack at seeing there own mums naked. It kinda reeks of snobbery. And to think there are families around each other eating, breathing, nursing, peeing and even pooping! Well that is just ridiculously crass! Ahh the lower class....

in Salonland than I ever, ever would have thought. I'll concede that as her son approaches double-digit years, she should consider phasing out the nudity, but Jesus Christ, people. My 4-year-old follows me into the bathroom when I shower and waits on the john, like a pet cat. He sees his mother and me in the nude every day of his life and has a proclivity for running around pantsless.

He.

Is.

Four.

There are definitely some people around here who need a therapist, but it ain't naked people's kids.

One truly frightening pattern in this exchange is how many people say the same thing to the LW: "you're doing nothing wrong, but beware! People around you and law enforcement officers could just destroy your life."

I understand many people just want to warn her, in a friendly way, not to be naïve. But one can also hear a threatening tone sometimes: "Give up, conform, surrender to the moral police, you have no right to choose. Submit to the culture, that's the way we are".

Sounds like a police state, not "freedom-loving" America. Why did this sane, intelligent, hardworking woman felt compelled to write this letter, to begin with?

She was made to feel guilty and anxious, to doubt her morals and her adequacy as a mother, just because she allows her children to see her body. It is almost unbelievable to a foreigner, like me. Then, we remember Janet Jackson's miliseconds-breast-exposure scandal.

I write this just after reading Tom Engelhardt's sad recollection about the waning of the sense of civic duty in the US, "Not taking it to the streets".

(http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/10/30/antiwar_demonstration/).

It is all related, isn't it? The young people who opposed the Vietnam war were the same who rejected their parent's hypocritical mores. But the puritans and holy warriors came back with a revenge. What a sad end of the road for a once great country!

Although I was almost never saw my parents naked when I was young, I honestly don't see the issue here. Comparing allowing your children to see you naked while you dress/shower/etc to sexual abuse? That's insane!