Back in the late 70's, early 80's, my mom, a MILF if there ever was one, enjoyed sunbathing in the nude in our suburban backyard. She would take her Coppertone oil, rub it all over her breasts, and hold up a gigantic fold-out reflector so every inch of her could be perfectly browned and fried. Her polyester bikini top would lay unfolded over the deckchair arm, and thus she would doze away the hot summer afternoons.

I wouldn't even remember this, except that the neighborhood kids made fun of me over it. They watched her from the woods, I guess. I defended her, because I knew they were jealous because I had such a pretty mom.

The funny thing is, I can't remember my mom or dad being nude in the house, because it didn't make a deliberate impact on me. I only remember it through others. So it goes with people.

what does he think about mom providing a daily floor show for his offspring?

how about the son exposing himself to his sister-- would she think that is okay? or to her friends? if mom has a boyfriend over, do the children get to see him naked? can he see the kids naked? how fast can their dad gain custody?

a shorty chenille robe costs about $15. decency? priceless.

How the heck could the human species have survived if it were a traumatic event for kids to see their parents naked? By what twisted logic would it be presumed that the sight of everyday ordinary reality -- the unclothed human body -- would or even could cause harm of any kind to the viewer. My God, what a sick idea.

My guess is that those who presume such nonsense have their own (possibly serious) hangups, maybe due to having been shielded as children themselves from the sight of adults au natural for far too long. I'm certain kids have no such innate neuroses nor vulnerability to psychological trauma just from seeing something that is, in reality, completely ordinary and unremarkable.

Is this phobia a characteristically American phenomenon?

that it's wrong for a 10 year old boy to see his mom naked daily. It's more about the mom than the boy, why does she have to parade in front of the young boy like that. no, sexual confusion won't surface at age 10, but I guarantee he'll be confused about sexuality, women, mom, boundaries, respect and privacy.

The risk to the daughter is even greater: if she doesn't learn that her nudity and sexuality are something special (rather than paraded in front on anyone regardless of appropriateness, she'll probably turn into the town slut, giving it away to anyone, just the way mom showed.

The courts should come take you "mom", and I do use the term very loosely (somewhat like your approach to parenting)

That happened to a freind of mine. She thought she was being all "enlightened" and teaching her kids to love their bodies. Actually, she was teaching her daughter to parade in front of the stepdad naked and not to question the stepdad when he got naked, and she was teaching stepdad to go right ahead. The poor girl was horribly sexually abused before teachers stopped it (mom didn't stop it cuz she thought nakidity was good.) Now she's lost custody of her children permanantly and is listing in our state as a sexual abuser. and rightly so

Of course, I don't think anyone should take the lw kids away. But I grew up with a mother who felt entitled to treat the entire house like a locker room. She wouldn't sit on the couch with us watching t.v. But she thought nothing of walking into the t.v. room without any clothes to give us a laundry list of tasks and criticisms. Her attitude was it was her house and if we didn't like it we could leave the room. Eventually the disrespect became mutual. I think there's a way of teaching your kids that nakedness is beautiful and natural, while also teaching them respect for boundaries.

re: "Choose to transform the culture."

People who transform culture write great books, find the cure for diseases, save starving babies.

Please don't claim any redeeming value to nudity. It is what it is depending on the context, but nothing about it is transforming culture.

It is not good parenting to be naked in front of your children. The adult body can be overwhelming to a child and they feel minimized. However, if they should accidently catch you naked, do not panic, but remove herself calmly elsewhere.

When puberty starts, children want privacy about their own bodies, especially from the opposite sex. They need to be comfortable in their new bodies. But your son will wonder why you suddenly stop being naked in from of him, which in inself will promote sexual interest.

Dear Naked vs. Nekkid,

You sound a lot like my wife and the mother of my children, whom I love, and so reading your letter I kind of started to love you, too. When my kids were little my wife would also very casually and naturally walk around naked in front of them. I thought it wasn't a good idea, and told her so, but she was very confident that I was wrong and I wasn't able to convince her otherwise. My son went through a period of troubles and confusion in early adolescence, which I bring up not because I think there is direct cause and effect there but because these troubles led to a great deal of family therapy and talking and revealing of long-unexpressed feelings and long-unspoken secrets, in the course of which we learned that, by my son's own admission, his mother's occasional nakedness was uncomfortable for him. Uncomfortable, confusing, unsettling. Affection and love get all mixed up--for boys, anyway, and being a boy it's all I really know--with seductiveness and All That Other Stuff, and the images he grew up with made him feel bad sometimes. I know that there must be boys out there for whom their mother walking around chatting with them in nothing but the clothes God gave her would not be uncomfortable, confusing and unsettling, but for my son it was. He's 20 now and doing wonderfully and he and his mother, after a long period of difficulties, are very close. Because you sound like the best possible kind of mom--that is to say, a lot like my son's mom--there's no reason that what you are doing should cause actual damage. I will, however, venture a guess that the reason you are wrote to Cary s not because people are questioning Brittany's choice but because long before Brittany's behavior flashed across the headlines you were questioning your own. And that questioning itself, that constructive self-awareness, is the root of why you are a good mom and why your son will be more than okay no matter what.