I am a mom of 2 boys. The oldest is going to be 4 next month. Now, with that said, I consider myself a "new" mom. I have yet to experience a lot of firsts. One thing I've found myself debating about (mostly internally) until this week, is letting my boys see me naked. At what age is it no longer appropriate for a child to see their parent naked? Does it make a difference if they are the opposite gender (ie: son seeing mother, daughter seeing father)?
Maybe some of you think I'm crazy and are thinking, "You still let your 4 year old see you naked?" I don't know! I've heard some people say that they stopped at 2 years old because their son looked at them and said "Mommy, why are your nipples so big?" Others stopped at 16 months because their daughter starting "grabbing." I've also heard a mother of a 9 year old boy say that her son sees her naked all the time and it's no big deal.
I live in a small house so it's difficult to get any privacy around here and I'm totally comfortable being free. However, I know my son is at the age will he is going to remember things...like for the rest of his life remember things. A couple weeks ago, my oldest son walked in my room after I got out of the shower and was about to get dressed. I turned around and he looked almost surprised to see me naked and a little bit embarrassed as he quickly turned around to leave. He's seen me naked a million times and never have I seen him react like that.
I think this is probably a personal decision I must make here but I'd love to hear from my readers. Because I feel like I need to start showing some modesty around my son. This morning he asked me to get in the shower with him, and his brother, and dad. I decided not to because I think I'm going to commit to my decision to be more private and move forward with that.
I've totally been dealing with this too! Cole is 4 now and I think it's time to shut the doors while I change. It's just so hard in such a small house. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI still even let Aidan shower with me- it's just easier sometimes. He asked a while ago, "Where's Mama's penis?" and I just explained that I'm a girl and only boys have penises. He made the connection, "Daddy penis? Aidan penis? Mama no penis." haha and he hasn't really looked at me weird or asked many questions since.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure at what point it will be weird. Age 4 would be tough to figure it out. I'd rather I be teaching him about naked bodies than him learning from friends at school, though.