Naked In Front of the Someone Else’s Kid?

I try to avoid other people’s kids seeing me naked, but the occasional bad encounter happens. (Old house, no locks on bedroom doors, lots of people over for swimming.) It’s just a “hey! privacy! outta here!” moment. I’m fine if another mom is changing clothes or such with my daughter. (I don’t think we have any friends who just hang out in their birthday suits.) But I’d do serious follow up on a naked dad sighting.

My boyfriend is a single dad of a 2.9 year old daughter, and she has definitely come into the bedroom in the wee small hours of the morning, waking us both up with a happy “hi, daddy! hi ada!” while i have been (admittedly under the blanket) sans clothing. While my relationship toward her has grown increasingly parental, and she is quite young, and I certainly don’t want to inflict upon her any body-shame issues, the idea of a child not my own seeing me naked horrifies me and is something I try to avoid at all costs (I keep a nightgown in the bed at all times, even if I’m not wearing it, to evade an early-morning naked encounter) but occasionally and briefly it happens. The child is also in the midst of a licking epidemic, but that is another story. I think it’s borderline inappropriate at best to be naked ’round other people’s children, but this varies depending on context, relationship between non-parent and child, culture, etc. And as with anything, my anxiety about being nude around my boyfriend’s daughter probably reflects more about my own neurosis than anything else.

Oh fun, I love the anti-step-parent bias I read so much of on parenting sites these days!

I read that article, btw, and she was asked what she wears to sleep. She sleeps nude, even though she’s learned that the boy comes romping in every morning. She says he doesn’t seem to notice it.

Ali, I don’t get the point you’re trying so desperately to make. I don’t think children are negatively impacted by simple nudity when they are little kids. I don’t know the other article you are referring to. However, if you think a child seeing a nude body is even in the same realm as incest then I politely suggest you seek the appropriate professionals for your issues.

But Jeanne, the bf and his daughter are living in HER home. And as the parent, he’s okay with it, so why are we squicked by her?

They live together. That really implies that it’s not a fly-by-night relationship to me; co-habitating is as stable as marriage, honestly. It’s not even just weekends at Daddy’s girlfriend’s house from what I could tell. It’s pretty full-time. If this was brand new, then I’d maybe agree with you that it’s totally inappropriate, but that’s really not the case here. Then again, my mom was a total nudie, so maybe I wouldn’t - I don’t find nudity inherently upsetting.