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Ideas For A Clothing-Relaxed Household
Naturism as a Way of Living had a waking dream about the world being different, but the process did not start with the entire world, it started with one family first! Then another joined, and another, and another.
Ground Rules - The ground-rules are first and foremost, NOBODY comments on the size, shape or appearance of another person’s body. The only acceptable comment is, “Good morning! You look nice today!” or some variation of this complimentary remark.
Parents - Guide the family, explain the rules and then enforce each rule. The behavior of the parents or parent establishes the foundation of “Acceptable Behavior” and must include being observant of everything! Well, what else would you expect, because each action is a part of the programming of the child or children, and each “little robot” will only be as well behaved as the rules put into them. Rules could be written down, and rules may be repeated each day at some special family gathering time such as before dinner, after dinner or before “TV time” if the family sits down to watch television together in the evening.
PRIVACY: A closed door means “private time” may be in progress for ANYONE in the household, and each person should knock on the door and wait for a reply before entering. Private time may mean someone is sleeping, talking on the telephone, studying lessons for school, praying, writing thoughts they need a little “quiet time” to think about, or any of dozens of other behaviors. Knocking on a door and waiting for permission to enter is a “respectful behavior” acknowledging each person’s right to enjoying moment of calm in our lives. ANYONE who knocks on a door three times and does not receive a response, either a verbal answer such as “Yes?”, “Come in” or “Please enter” is permitted to enter AFTER waiting 30 seconds and will NOT receive any complaint about entering the room. This rule may require a minor shift in thinking regarding some activities routinely done behind a closed door, but again parents set the rules of the household and therefore MUST lead by example - always!
Children - BASICS: Clothing is required when going outside to play, meeting friends or going to school. Also, the home is a ‘Safe Zone’ of love, freedom and comfort; so what we do in the home is family business and should not be discussed with other people outside the home. This is not about anyone being embarrassed, it is simply about protecting individual rights and the fact family beliefs and social practices are often more relaxed than SOME behaviors outside the home. What families do at home is special, a privilege and in the complete safety of people who love you unconditionally, forever!
For both the parents and children, coaching on the importance of bodily cleanliness is very important too! The idea of keeping yourself clean and keeping the furnishing clean is important enough to be included in the Ground Rules, and it goes like this: (1.) Always clean your body parts after visiting the bathroom, (2.) Always wash your hands after visiting the bathroom, (3.) There should be no argument if anyone asks you to go back and clean your body parts again (i.e. just do it again), (4.) If there is ever any doubt about the cleanliness of a body part, any lack of confidence whatsoever, EITHER (A.) Clean the body part a second time, or (B.) Grab a towel, blanket, or pair of short pants to sit on UNTIL you are more comfortable regarding the state of your body, or until the confidence in the cleanliness of the body part returns to absolute certainty.
Friends - Friends are great and we all want to have them. Friends support us and add meaning to our lives, after family of course, but sharing ANY new beliefs or social practices with friends is a thing to do with care. If the friends are those of our children, then patience must be exercised in either setting aside hours of the day or evening as ‘Friends Time’, during which all family members would be clothed, remain clothed and not discuss the special privileges enjoyed by the family when the friends are not present; or we must trust the friends enough to add each person to the family’s circle of trust and confidence. Adding a non-adult friend to the family circle SHOULD MEAN going through the parents of the friend. Anyhow, if we do not know the parents of our child’s friend, we must ask how well we know what other behaviors, standards of living and social practices our CHILDREN are being influenced by?
The next question is whether the parents of our children’s friends are capable of believing the same values we do? Have there been discussions or other clues regarding the beliefs of other parents, or other single adults associating with the family, and do OUR BELIEFS align with THEIRS?
Extended Family - Each family has relatives with as many of their own unique beliefs and social practices as our own! Therefore, we must consider how compatible their attitudes are with ours, or whether they CAN and WILL place any information shared at a sufficient level of trust and confidence in order for our beliefs and practices to be “safeguarded” and maintained. Entire conversations may take place about beliefs, trust, confidentiality, respect and acceptable behavior with the extended family before EVER mentioning any hint of or interest in clothing-relaxed household practices.
Attitudes Check - If any of the ideas mentioned do not align with the beliefs already present within your family, please do modify them, re-write them, add to them or take away for them however seems appropriate! This tumblog entry has been saved as a Rich Text file and Naturism as a Way of Living is happy to discuss them with anyone, anytime. These ideas are meant to serve as a starting point for anyone not having already given thought to the “fundamental basics” of clothing-relaxed attitudes within the home, or in life in general, whether at play, on vacation, at work or in another form of business, because no such basic guidance has been seen. Yes, a guide to being more nude at home for the individual exists and some additional writing on family nudity has been written also, but this post is meant to address the five core elements laid out above: Ground Rules, Parents, Children, Friends and Extended Family. How these things relate to changes in attitudes, the adoption of new attitudes, educating children (regardless of age) and “putting it all together” is something hopefully of use to many families everywhere.

