“It’s okay officer, I’m just doing my part to lower drug use in the area.”
No, I’m not joking…
Check out this unexpected conclusion to Dr. Paul Okami’s study on children’s exposure to parental “household” nudity:
“Boys exposed to parental nudity were less likely to have engaged in theft in adolescence or to have used various psychedelic drugs and marijuana.”
“Girls were also less likely to have used drugs such as PCP, inhalants, or various psychedelics in adolescence. “
Why is this? More on this study later, but it seems the children who are exposed to normal household nudity grow up to be more self- confident. This is predicted to be because they are more aware of their bodies as a multi-functioning entity than their peers who were parented without exposure to parental nudity as children. Additionally, the children exposed to normal household nudity are less likely to give into peer pressure and more likely to take the potential health risks of drug use into consideration.
LOVE THIS! My family raised my sisters and I to understand that nudity and sexuality are two VERY different things! We were never ashamed of our bodies and nudity is very natural! Glad to see we are nutty! lol
Yeah, the study is actually a lot better than this. I just thought this was a pretty random finding. It goes on to debunk the myth seeing your parents nude is going to psychologically damage you as an adult. No, quite the opposite!
I was a HUGE nudist as a kid haha, my mom could barely keep clothes on me! Her and I were always comfortable changing in front of each other etc, and my Dad didn’t really care when I ran around in my underwear. Eventually I grew out of it, but I’m sure all my friends & family would agree I’m still ridiculously comfortable in my own skin. Confident in my body & sexuality too
Did you live in our house? Sounds like we grew up in the same place.
I did not grow up around nudity. my parents were really weird about it actually. but i knew that when i had children it would be a different household.
I asked my husband if he remembers what kind of a house he grew up in (prude or nude…lol)- Unfortunately he can’t remember (his mom died when he was 8 so his childhood was pretty traumatic) but he feels it is right with our family.
We (my hubby, our only son and myself) are and have always been “family nudists.” This has just coming natural to us as cosleeping, EBF, gentle disciplining and the choice to unschool. Our son is very confident, makes new friend easily and is a leader. He is very open with his thoughts and feelings. I was raised by my mom and I grew up with us both being nude while getting ready until I moved out and got married 16 years ago. I still change in front of my mom now. She was one of my biggest fans of me nursing in public, though she didn’t nurse me. I haven’t ever given it much thought of us walking though our home naked. Thank you for sharing this story!
My daughter was wondering why her 5 year old boy insisted on taking all his clothes off before going to sit on the toilet. Later on after discussing it with my wife they realised that when he was staying with us (his grandparents), it was common for him to see me head off to the toilet first thing in the morning. Since I’ve never made a habit of getting dressed first, he figured if it was good enough for granddad then it was good enough for him.
Equating nudity with sexuality is absurd.I find it completely ridiculous.Nudity or naturism increases body acceptance and self esteem.Children growing up with naturism grow up healthy and without any misconceptions about the human body.People understand that seeing a nude body isn’t equivalent to watching porn. Two years back I and some of my friends had gone skinnydipping (as I was ok with nudity) and after we were done we got up when suddenly one of the passerby’s commented in a rude way about my “dingdong’ (I don’t know how to put it in other words).It hurt me a lot becoz I was brought up in an open society and nobody had ever made such a rude remark about me.It made me understand that people who actually rant about nudity being unhealthy are actually the ones whose minds are corrupted.
Sam, I’m with you. Technically my family does not practice naturism by the definition, but we totally agree with the principles of nudity not being sexual and not being ashamed of the human form. There is a huge misunderstanding of modesty and nudity as well- all because of our complete lack of understanding of the difference between nudity and sexuality. Sigh…
You are very correct Jamie.Society is very skiddish when it comes to dealing with nudity,anything and everything in the nude has to be made out sexual in one way or the other.I just felt bad about that person’s rude comment about me and so I decided to share it. Btw how do u personally deal with nudity at home or elsewhere??
At home? It’s normal household nudity. I’m not running and locking my door to get dressed. We only have one bathroom, you can imagine it gets busy in there. One person using the toilet, someone else in the shower, another person brushing their teeth. Bodily functions, none sexual- all teaching our kids their body is to be respected as well as others. Nudity in places outside the home again, not a big deal. It’s ironic because people are so up-in-arms with nudity, but neglect sex is everywhere in our culture, and to me that is offensive. My kids are starting to notice the strip club billboards everywhere and asking why the women are posing in those ways. That is accepted publicly, but people take issue with a child seeing their parent’s nude body in normal non-sexual household settings. It’s a strange world. I had one woman who was upset I posted a photo of my sister breastfeeding that she even breastfeeds her infant with a cover in her home so her toddler son learns modesty. She can do whatever she wants, but that is not what we believe will be beneficial for our children.
You are doing the right thing Jamie.Letting ur children know that the human body is nothing to be ashamed of.I am sure that they will grow up with a healthy mind and spirit.And speaking about the woman who was upset with u I think she think’s breasts are something sexual and for male fantasies rather than for feeding babies.My father once told me that there are many who will talk bad about you and criticize you at the slightest possibility without any possible reason, so what u really need to do is to just ignore them .I think you should do the same.And oh btw talking about modesty how modest do u think was that guy who made a rude comment about my penis when I was skinnydipping??
Uh oh….I’m okay with nudity, and know that I’ll feel comfortable with being nude around my baby boy for a long time to come, but unfortunately my husband doesn’t feel the same way. He believes that from the very start, children must learn to be covered at all times. He and I even disagree on what to call a child’s genitals lol… We both think they should be considered “private parts,” but I also think we should teach the anatomically correct names for things (penis, vulva, etc) while he thinks that would be inappropriate >_< Anyway, very interesting study!
It isn’t inappropriate at all!! Children should be taught the correct names for their anatomy.
If you teach your son he has a penis and your daughter a vagina, if they suddenly started calling it a cupcake? you could ask them why and who taught them that. It is one of the suggested rules for combating child abuse. It could help parents/gaurdians notice if it’s happening.
Sorry I have to disagree! I grew up in a very modest home. Didn’t do any types of drugs whatsoever ! Having said that, I am still very modest, but that does not stop the kids barging in when I’m on the toilet!
I’m going to look more into this, I’m very curious. My husband is from Denmark and in Europe, they do not stigmatize nudity and sex the way that we do in the US; on the same token they also do not consider violence to be a casual topic of conversation the way that we do here so that contradiction is something worth considering. Although I’m from the US, I was raised similarly so our intention with our daughter is to continue that tradition instead of teaching her that her body is a bad thing or that violence is acceptable. This definitely coincides with the AP discussion as it relates to raising children with confidence in themselves and their ability to relate to other human beings, as well as breast feeding and not allowing it to be viewed as taboo or something that should be hidden.
I’m really curious about this study because there seems like there would much more stronger migrating factors for drug use then exposure to parental nudity.
I’m actually the one that’s not very comfortable with nudity around my two boys (ages 6 and 9). They see me naked as I’m dressing sometimes, but I make a point of asking for privacy. I explain that their parts are private too, which is something I stress more after my youngest got a note home for “mooning” friends. They think boobs and bottoms are funny, even though I’ve tried to use my nudity as an opportunity to explain what boobs are actually used for.
I just don’t get the nudity/drugs correlation. Got to read that one.
Hmmm….. am I reading that study correctly? Does it state that exposure to parental sexuality is a good thing? We kiss and hug in front of the kids, but that’s about it.
I was “exposed” to parental nudity in the let-it-all-hang-out 70′s. Also parental drug use. It convinced me that I was going to have to be the grown-up in the family, as clearly no one else was going to be. It’s one thing to try clothes on in the same dressing room with your mom and sisters, and another thing entirely to have to witness parents walking around nude like toddlers who throw their clothes off at every opportunity. That’s called clinical narcissism.
What a lot of sensible people on this site! Oh for a more relaxed and healthy attitude in society to simple nudity. It would solve a lot of problems. The relationship to drugs is not an obvious one, but is suggested to be down to increased confidence. However the study only shows a correlation, and certainly does not suggest those brought up in restrictive household ‘will do drugs’. It is important not to over-interpret the data.