My name is Vinny, and it has been quite a while since I last posted or visited the live chats maybe a year probably longer? Lately I would pop in from time to time to read the forums but never entered any replies. To give you a quick update, I was a HN with a couple of social visits to Penn Sylvan and some naked hiking with a friend. She and her husband are now looking into the naturist lifestyle and both Christians. I had been praying that my wife would come to enjoy the naturist lifestyle. My wife tolerated my nudism and occasionally would join. For our fifteenth wedding anniversary we traveled to St. Martin where we originally planned to honeymoon, but decided to use that money as a down payment on a house instead.
On our �second honeymoon� we only had one thing planned for our vacation, a cruise on the Tiko Tiko on Wednesday. Being CO, I hoped she would embrace the nude cruise. Well to make a long story short, Monday we arrived at Club O to pay for our cruise, (which we really didn�t have to) and my wife who was really hot and needing to cool off, I said �There is the beach if you don�t mind getting naked today.� So we parked our car, walked to the beach, disrobed and spent five wonderful days on various nude beaches. I was hoping for one day of nakedness with my wife and we were blessed with an entire week and more. I say more because now my wife visited Penn Sylvan with me, she enjoyed it so much we became members of AANR.
Here is where I am asking for a little advice. I have looked through several pages on the forum into the past and either did not go back far enough, or passed over it to quickly to find discussion on this matter. When my wife and I were at Penn Sylvan, a couple of families had youngsters/ pre-teens along. My wife and I talked and said that if the kids would be along we would not have to find someone to watch them and we could go to the resort anytime we want to. Our kids 7 year old boy will hang around the house naked, our 11-year old daughter is never disrobed, unless she is in the shower. It took years for my wife to come to enjoy naturism, and our children are at an age where we get them involved now or they will hopefully enjoy it later. I would say my wife is almost as interested or more in getting the kids involved, which is a real shocker if you knew her history. We have been discussing it as a family and one on one with the kids. Both my wife and I believe that if they visit with us they will enjoy it, especially if they see other kids there they can socialize with. Short of throwing them in the car and saying �We are going� is there an �easy� way to get kids involved? Sorry this was so long, I look forward to reading your words of wisdom and experience. I have been reading various websites, some good some bad, but if you know of any online resources I would be glad to look at them also. Thank you very much for your time,
Take Care,
Vinny
This message has been edited by boydallen on Aug 4, 2008 9:06 PM
About four years ago with our first visit we just loaded up the kids and said we are going. But my oldest at the time was 8. They all took to it quite quickly, and they loved it then especially when they met another child there. Going when you know other kids will be there will help them enjoy it so much more. At my local resort, there are not many children there very often, so when I do get to go I schedule it at a time that I know that other children (I keep in contact with some of the other parents that I've met there before) will be there.
Sounds like your son will be fine with it. But from all I've read, your daughter may have a harder time. (Disclosure: I'm divorced with no children of my own, and have come to naturism since my divorce.)
I think the first step is to talk to your daughter. Ask her if she's really comfortable with your nudity at home. (It may take some probing to get an honest answer.) Explain that whether she undresses or not is entirely up to her, and reassure her that you won't press her and that if anyone does, they'll have to deal with you. Ultimately, SHE must make the decision. And I suppose you've already discovered that every decision made at that age is constantly "up for review." lol
First of all, I want to welcome you back to the BACN forum. It's always great to meet new Christian naturists, but just as exciting to hear about their spouses getting involved and finding out how wonderful it really is!
Too bad you didn't get our information about CNC being AANR and we accept members now, unless you became AANR before we were affiliated.
As for your children, I agree that your 7yo will have no problem with it. First of all, he is a boy. Case closed.
A girl in her early or pre-teens? Now that will be a challenge. But maybe she is looking for a more inclusive lifestyle at home. Your wife, being her mother, has resisted for so long that she has picked up on it. Just because your wife has had a change of attitude, does not mean that your daughter will suddenly come around. She wants to see if it is really so with her mother. Will her mother change her mind again? Girls like her needs long term reassurance, and her mother is that for her, assuming she is stable with her decision (which I think she is, but your daughter is on a wait and see status).
Best thing to do is to invite them to go with you, not make them go, but make sure you are honest with them and are genuine about wanting them to come. They can tell a fake when it comes from their parents.
Again, I think when your 7yo goes, she may go fairly soon.
Keep checking with us for more replies and let us know the outcome.
And congratulations on your anniversary and your wife becoming a naturist! (what a wonderful anniversary gift, but I don't remember naturism being on the list of gifts for a particular year!)
Actually the traditional 15th anniversary gift is crystal. So we gave each other a trip to the "crystal" clear waters of St Martin!! Thanks for the input so far. The information has been in line with what my wife and I have been thinking.
I understand the situation you are in Vinny. A little over a year ago my wife and I visited a clothing optional B&B in Florida. We were both reserved going in and my wife much more so. At the end of the week she was ready to join the AANR, but we agreed to wait until we knew we could visit someplace again.
After returning home I began a lot of research to find help in bringing our children to a place of participating with us. There isn't a lot of info except talk about it, practice it at home, and respect their feelings as much as possible. We still haven't introduced our children to any social venues. But it is not uncommon to see any one of us at home nude at anytime. I have an 10 y/o son and two younger daughters - all school aged. We would like to visit a park with them, but I work in vocational ministry and our youngest is a talker. So we are very reluctant to push things along.
I have been looking a lot at St. Martin, before our FL trip and after. I would love for us to visit for our 15th anniversary. It is only three years out so to do it right, we need to start planning now. I am interested as to where you stayed in St. Martin and how everything went for you.
Although I was brought up in a catholic country(Italy),where nudity was frowned upon,strangely enough it was common to see many kids up to 10 yrs.old on the local beaches in the nude,and nobody minded. Even as young teenagers we used to go skinnydipping after school straight to the beach,since we didn't have any swimsuits with us,and we didn't care who was looking,although it was usually a more or less empty beach.
I went back about ten years ago in the height of summer when the beach was full and everybody was wearing swimsuits,including all the kids. But strangely enough I saw a few nuns from a local orphanage who brought about twenty boys(ages 8 to 10)for a daily swim,and they were all(the boys)nude. The local people didn't seem to mind since they were used to it,but some tourists,including Americans,especially youngsters,used to stare at them.
So I think it's a matter of culture.
Believe me, many us us know about talkative kids...LOL. Just at the exact wrong moment they're blurting out something you'd rather keep a family secret. Most of it is just goofy stuff every family had done, but with nudism outsiders tend to get a bit nervous and anxious and assume the worst. I also work in a church, but in a non ministerial position. Even so, I would worry about my job if it ever got out that we visit our club weekly and camp out several times a summer. Has your youngest ever chatted with others about being nude at home and have you ever explained to her about subjects that aren't wrong, but you don't talk about them outside your family? If she's kept the subject of home nudity to herself, she might be ready for the next step.
