At What Age Do You Stop Allowing Your Kids to Run Around 'Naked'?

Updated on July 28, 2012
J.M. asks from Cleveland, TN
26 answers

My 2yo DD is really prone to heat rash, and we can't afford to run the (tiny, weak little window-unit) AC enough to actually keep our house cool... so it's usually pretty warm around here. To help her stay more comfortable, I usually just let her run around in nothing but her underwear (which has really helped with her potty training! ;) lol). When we have company coming, or if we need to go somewhere are the only times she really wears clothes.

Now, at 2 nobody has a problem with this. (well, nobody I know at least...)

I am just curious though... at what age did you expect your kids (Especially little girls... Lucky guys are 'allowed' to go topless without any scandal.) to wear clothes most of the time while at home?

P.S. I don't mean for this to be a judgmental topic at all... What y'all (<<Yay! I can finally use that word confident that I have spelled it right... ;) lol) do in the privacy of your own home is up to you... I am just curious what the norm is. :)

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So What Happened?

*By naked, I mean running around in nothing but her underwear... not buck-naked. :)

Featured Answers

T.M.

answers from Redding on

I think it usually sort of fizzles out on it's own around age 3... when they become aware. A lot of it has to do with how you feel about it, they will get their cues from you and dad.

3 moms found this helpful

S.G.

answers from Grand Forks on

If we are at home, and we have no guests, I don't care if my kids run around naked. My seven year old does once in a while, my ten year old will run from his room to the shower at most. I will also run around naked, but my husband is more modest.

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C.N.

answers from Baton Rouge on

At home, I didn't care if she ever wore clothes unless we had comoany coming over that she would be embarassed to be naked in front of. She's now in her 20's and has no problem walking around my house naked if it's just us there.

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V.W.

answers from Jacksonville on

My daughter, well, both our kids actually, always were clothed, pretty much. We live in the deep south where it isn't just hot, but very humid as well. Folks wouldn't be able to stand it here without central a/c. And we use it. :))

Since the indoors was always a nice constant 75 degrees, there was no NEED to go clothes-less. I don't suppose it is anything I ever really gave any thought to. The kids just always have had clothes on. I was never one to let them run around in just a diaper either. I don't know why. It never occurred to me NOT to put clothes on them. Actually, keeping clothes on them probably helped with them not removing their diapers, lol.

Since you didn't ask what we think about other people, I'm not going to go there. You did ask what the "norm" in other households was, though... and in our household, I guess the answer would be that there was never a time when we DIDN'T expect them to wear clothes. Even our son always has on a shirt. Dad doesn't go around shirt-less either.
Just the way we do things.

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I.G.

answers from Seattle on

At home? Never! Home is our private space and we all (me, DH, DD) run around naked in our home or the backyard from time to time. I don't see any reason why we wouldn't: no one can look into our windows without straining their necks and our yard is quite private as well.

Nudity is a matter of personal opinion and feelings of modesty. I grew up in a country and in a family where nudity was very accepted and commonplace (people sunbathe in public parks in the nude all the time) so for us it is NOT and issue.

As for your family: you will have to make up whatever you feel comfortable with.
Good luck.

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K.D.

answers from Dallas on

I let my son roam around in just a diaper some days, he is almost 2. It is Summer and way hot here! If we are expecting company, you'd better believe he will have clothes on when they get here, no matter who it is! I never allowed my daughter to run around like that, but we lived in California and it was not nearly as hot there as it is here in the Summertime. Plus she is a girl and he is a boy, guess that is really what it boils down to. Nine times out of ten, my kids are clothed :)

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D.T.

answers from Muncie on

In the house, with just me, she can be as naked as she likes. :)

Outside, she can wear as little as a swim suit. That's actually been her uniform all summer.

She's about to be 6.

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S.B.

answers from Kansas City on

My dd is 5, and she's recently gotten into the modesty thing, where she feels like she should be covered up. Of course, she also decided last night was eat in your underpants night, so who knows? I figure, if you're at home, you can do whatever.

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K.P.

answers from New York on

I don't know... my husband prances around in his undies in our home at the age of 38 and my son (4) is a complete nudist. He'll wait a good hour after a bath before putting jammies on. We're not weird about nudity in our house, as long as we don't have company. My parents were never weird about it either, but my in-laws are very private people. When my parents are visiting, it's pretty common for my son to be naked. My MIL? No way.

As long as he's comfortable with it, it's fine with us. I'm guessing that in the next year or so he'll want undies on at all time, but we'll leave that up to him. He knows that if we have company, he has to wear clothing. In the winter, it's too cold so we let him "hang out' in the summer!

Oh... no "nakey time" at the table though. Undies and shirts are required during meals.

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S.C.

answers from Milwaukee on

My daughter is 6 and still likes to run around the house naked. Sometimes she sleeps naked. When we get home if she is warm she will take her top off and wish she was a boy so she could do it outside of the house too. It's not long after that she will end up naked. I only ask that she put undies on cause you can never be too sure how well she wipes :)

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J.T.

answers from New York on

Interesting... my daughter never went through that phase where she ever wanted to run arund naked.

Even when it is over 80 in the house she has nevr been interested.

If she was so inclined I would have let her in the house, probably until around 3 or so.

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L.A.

answers from Austin on

Our daughter became modest when she was about to turn 5. She was in daycare and that is when she wanted "privacy" while going to the potty and being changed into her swimsuit.

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L.M.

answers from Houston on

My 2 & 4 yo old DD's are always naked! Lol---except for company & outings (like you)...they just love to be naked! ESP the 2 yo. 4 yo wears princess dresses a lot ;)

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J.M.

answers from Philadelphia on

my daughter is 5 3/4 (as she constantly reminds M.) and she's always J. in underwear. She has no p****** p**** that would be wear a shirt would cover, when she does I will enforce it, but I'm sure she'll get modest on her own before that.

Most of the above is because she sleeps with J. underwear so before bed and in the morning she gets ready for bed and gives out hugs and kisses like this, and in the morning eats breakfast like this. i'm not going to make her get clothes on J. for breakfast only to change when she spills=)

i like the fact she's not embarassed of her body.

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P.G.

answers from Dallas on

My son is 5 and he has some naked time to run around, but when he wants to sit on furniture, the undies go on :)

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A.L.

answers from Austin on

I'm kind of with Victoria on this one - there was rarely any "naked time" around here, either - even last summer, when we had 90 days of triple-digit-temps. Mostly just after baths, and that was really more a game of tag - dampness, plus lotion = slippery little kids who delighted in squealing and running away, knowing that even if/when they were caught, they were still slippery enough to escape again...

Central A/C. (I was 16 before I knew that there were parts of the country where houses were still built without it. I mean, my grandmother's house didn't have central a/c, but it was built before electricity. And cars! I nearly fell over when we went to look at Saturns, and learned they didn't come standard with a/c! Really?!? First time I had ever seen a new car without it.)

Plus, my mama had the policy that you do NOT sit at her table without a shirt, just like men certainly do NOT wear hats at her table. I have that ingrained in my psyche, I suppose, and it is enforced at my table, as well.

Nonetheless, my 6-year-old is quite comfortable stripping down. Which is becoming an issue. My personal thought is that when they are old enough to "tell the difference," then they are old enough to not be naked with company. And DD does it both here AND at playdates. Plus, we already have a little friend with body issues, who, when the kids play dress-up, she excuses herself to the bathroom to change, so I fear it's only a matter of time before my own child's nudity makes her peers uncomfortable. I'm trying to explain to DD that she doesn't need to be naked with friends/family outside the home (at the very least), but she insists that changing clothes isn't "naked," it's just changing clothes. Yes, but changing clothes means doing the whole process in the SAME ROOM, not taking off your clothes wherever it occurs to you, and then streaking through your grandfather's birthday party to get to your suitcase in the room on the opposite end of the house....sigh.

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J.G.

answers from Chicago on

I guess shortly after my son potty trained around his 2 bday I told him that he couldn't be naked boy anymore. He goes around in his undies all the time, but I insist on undies. My 4 year old daughter sleeps in her undies too.

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L.H.

answers from San Diego on

My girl still runs around naked at 5 and 1/2 but its just she and I and I'm not exactly modest at home. I just don't care, but we do talk quite a bit about "ladylike" and "propriety" in "public."

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G.H.

answers from Chicago on

If she is just running around in the home & it's just you and daddy then it doesn't matter. Around 3 - 3 1/2 she may become more modest on her own. Around 3ish is when little girls want to change 10 times a day, then you will have a whole new issue on your hands.

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A.H.

answers from Canton on

My son is 8 and still loves to be naked. We don't allow it now but he will run from his bedroom to the bathroom naked. If we're in the house (summer or winter) he's usually stripped down to his underwear within 10mins of being home. My girls are/were a little different. My oldest loved to be naked until around 3 and my youngest doesn't get naked but like her brother will strip down to her underwear if we're in the house.
I personally have no problem with kids doing this

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S.L.

answers from Philadelphia on

My son is only 3, but he still loves running around naked. I don't let him sit at the table or go outside without clothes on, but otherwise I don't really care. I once stopped by his daycare when they were getting the kids ready to go outside in the sprinkler and I was surprised at the number of children who had stripped down and were running around naked. Other than a few of the older girls (5-6 years old), none of the kids seemed the least bit phased, even the 5-6 year old boys.

My son's grandparents seem less comfortable with it, but if we're in our home I don't really care if he's in his undies.

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A.V.

answers from Washington DC on

At home with no company? Depends on the family's comfort. We encourage DD (just shy of 4) to put on a shirt and panties at least but if there's no company, I don't really sweat it. She'll get shy soon enough. More often she'll shed the pants and underpants when we get home and leave the shirt on. I ask her to put on panties so she doesn't sit on the couch with a nekkid butt.

R.R.

answers from Los Angeles on

To me once they're potty trained, even when it's just us at home. My guy trained at 27 months, turned 3 in April, and once he had the pulling bottoms up and down mastered he has worn shorts and a shirt of some sort. He really doesn't like to be naked, or even in just shorts or swim trunks unless he's getting wet or in the pool, he likes clothes. It was the same with my older son and my daughter, once they were potty trained, he at 3, she at 18 months.

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S.B.

answers from Houston on

My daughter and husband are the naked people in the family. She is almost 24 years old and she would walk about naked if we let her. Daugter is her father's kid. He would be naked all the time too!

My son on the other hand, has to be all buttoned up. He has always been my modest kid, takes after me.

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G.L.

answers from Salt Lake City on

Depends on your family's comfort level with skin. It's also a matter of training them in understanding their own society's rules about covering up. My children are born nudists, and I'm in a 100 year old house with a poorly placed swamp cooler that is getting ready to die, so it's not very cool in here. In the name of not causing scandal in the neighborhood, I've established the following rules:

Naked in your own room by yourself is fine. Your room, your skin.

Being in the rest of the house with family requires underpants. Now that my 11 y.o. daughter is in the early stages of developing breasts, a camisole is also required. She's the type who needs training in social norms regarding skin - she is utterly at ease in hers, and would go completely naked if it were socially acceptable to do so. Undergarments are fine for the back yard, which is very private, especially for back yard sprinkler running. Often in the heat my kids are playing in the back yard in sunhats, underwear, and crocs.

Clothes are required when people outside the family are over. Clothes are also required to go out the front door. (I had to make this an explicit rule after a couple of front door escapee toddler streaking incidents when my babies were younger.) Clothes are required at other people's houses. (Again, a rule I never thought to make until we had a few incidents of getting comfortably undressed while at friends' homes during the preschool/toddler years.)

If he could, I think my son would go everywhere dressed in his briefs and a superhero cape.

B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

2 or 3 is about the oldest for it.
By the time they are potty trained, they are done with running around naked.
The only time my son went bottomless was when he was 2 and we needed to air out his bottom a bit - I had him outside with me in the back yard.
He's never liked being naked except for bath time.
Even now he wears a rash guard shirt with his swim trunks - he hates going shirtless.
A diaper and light cotton romper were always comfortable.

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