Tweet
Had an interesting discussion with my 21 yr old son about a week ago. He is a college student up north of Fort Worth and is about 30 minutes from our favorite local club. When we go up to see him, we usually tie in a weekend at the club as well. The last time we were there we told him we were staying out in the country when he asked about where we were staying. This time, when he asked, we told him we were staying at a campground and he asked if it was a nude place....when we said yes, he had an interesting smirk come across his face but let it go at that. A while later, I asked him if he was still running much and let him know that there were several nude 5k races in the area....the smirk on his face was priceless. I'm not sure if it was due to being interested of if the vision of a bunch of nude runners quickly flashed through his minds eye. Next time we go up that way, we'll invite him out for a visit...but don't expect he's ready for that yet. Ah well, it would be interesting to have him meet us for a visit. Time will tell.
-
-
Our girls were being raised as nudists but stopped in their pre-teen years. We continued during that time and after they'd gone off to college. They knew that we kept living naked but I don't think they paid much attention to where we went on vacation. Before cell phones, we just called them every couple of days to let them know we were still alive. After cell phones, we were in contact regularly. My wife was fine with them knowing about us living naked but didn't want to tell them about our social nudism. She kept waiting for the right time and finally, after we got caught in a tall tale, my wife said ... "now's the time to tell them." So ... we did. My wife wanted to tell the girls because she wanted to make sure they understood that it was something she wanted to do and enjoyed doing and that "dad" wasn't making her do it.
Telling them where we went was a good thing. With the internet, they could look up those places and see for themselves. It was because of those open conversations and telling them about the places we visited and showing them pictures of those places, that made them take an interest in nudism once again. Some twenty years after they stopped participating in home nudism, they were actually interested in the nude beach, a resort we visited in Palm Springs and our club.
I always kidded with them about our annual trip to Club Orient in the Caribbean. I told them, if they wanted to go and spend a week there, I'd pay but they had to stay at Club O. They didn't have to be naked but they had to stay where we stayed to see for themselves what went on and that it wasn't what they thought or what they may have heard about nudist places. Several years passed and after returning from one trip, our youngest said ... "next year, I want to go!" That started the ball rolling and by the time we got done talking about it, both daughters, one son in law and the 4 grandkids born at that time, all went with us.
The youngest has continued to dabble in nudism at home, come to the club several times, visited the beach with us and visited and stayed at the resort in Palm Springs with us several times. The oldest one not so much but does partake in skinny dipping in the evening hours at home with her family. Neither is looking to become nudists like we are but at least they've tried it and understand it. We're so glad we told them. Close nudist friends continue to keep it from their sons but the sons know. I think it's sending the wrong message not to tell your kids about your nudist lifestyle. They should know and they should know exactly what it is you're doing. You're not doing anything wrong.
But ... it may not work for every situation and every family.
-
The issue of sharing our interest / passion for nudism with family or friends, colleagues, etc has been discussed many times. Some openly share while others (like me) restrict sharing to only a select few who I know are open minded and non-judgmental. This is true with some of my artist friends.
It Is not that I am embarrassed or otherwise hesitant, but rather I consider the consequences. I am not interested in, or have the patience to debate the merits of nudism, then to field insults and criticism. This has happened too many times in years past.
As far as sharing with our children - not raised as nudists - again, we as parents are in the best position to judge for ourselves whether this is in our best interest or not. For me, the answer is no. For others, it may be yes.
Comment
-
Fireprof - as far as family knowing goes, my son has all the info he needs...and likely wants for now. My wife's daughter also knows about our interests and has no interest in doing anything that "gross" as she puts it. My mother also knows and is fully supportive of any place we go which is good since she lives in Pasco CTY, FL about 10 minutes from everything there. We also told my brother and his wife this summer who have some interest is relaxing nude, but have never been with other people...maybe we can share some time in the future. The only ones I am not willing to tell are my daughter who is still in HS and more importantly, her mother who used my interest in nude recreation as a reason to end the marriage. Overall, the nude closet is rapidly expanding with a door just about in reach.
Garbo - I share your reluctance to share any of my personal activities with any coworkers. While several of the folks I work with have visited nude locations in Europe as part of a previous military life, I have never felt any would have any meaningful interest in knowing or discussing the topic. There was one guy I worked with that we discussed the idea, but never were able to do anything together before he left the company.Comment
-
If what you both do in regards to telling family is what you're able to do ... then, as I stated in my last sentence of my post ...."it may not work for every situation and every family."Comment
-
I can sympathize with people who didn't raise their kid(s) as nudists, didn't become nudists until the "empty-nester" stage of their lives, and now struggle a bit in regards to "coming out" to their older - or even adult - kid(s); who may have rarely/never even seen them nude.
I have met and known nudists who frequently visited clubs/resorts, were nude at home...but just couldn't bring themselves to telling their kid(s) how they actually spent their weekends. As a matter of fact, within my own family, I have strong reasons to believe my Stepmom started skinny-dipping and enjoying their home nude after my stepsister and I moved out; and even more so after they moved to Florida. My Dad and her have quickly "deflected" the topic when it's come up.
I think the "fear" of how the kid(s) might react if they suddenly find out their parents are "naked...a lot" is probably a bit exaggerated. I think few children will decided to outright reject their parents based on that knowledge. Some parents "flamboyantly" come out to their kids by just "showing up nude." Unless you do that without any prior discussion; I think there is little to fear besides fear itself.
But if you really feel strongly about being secretive, I personally won't judge you.
Comment
-
I need to set the record straight. As with many forum posts, the true meaning of what is trying to be conveyed is most times lost in the typed translation.
It is absolutely a persons right to be as secretive about being a nudist as they want or need to be. I was not advocating coming out to everyone. I feel strongly that children, non nudist children should know only because of the shock value of finding out from someone else. Should something happen to us at a resort or the club, I would hate for our girls to have to try and explain to family and friends that we were at a nude place and they had no idea that we even did anything like that.
Our reasons for inviting our girls to visit and experience what we do was so they understood it and could speak first handed about what really goes on in these places. The last thing we would ever want is for our girls to try and understand what the hell we were doing at a nude place and being naked with a bunch of other naked people. We live our own lives. Our grown kids live theirs. For us, it's just mutual respect to let them know what we are doing and where we are and who we are sharing our nudist lifestyle with. This is the main reason we have also had our girls and grandkids meet our nudist friends.
It just worked for us. It may not work for others and that's fine. I just have a stronger opinion on why I think it's important to tell our kids what it is we do so they aren't blindsided by it if something happens to us when we are at a nude venue.
Comment
-
That's a good philosophical approach, FireProf.Comment
Comment