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Parents spend a lot of time and effort making sure their kids aren’t exposed to nudity at too young an age. After all, we even have an entire internet filter industry dedicated to preventing kids from stumbling into the unclothed parts of the web.

But one mother is taking a different approach to the issue. No, she isn’t letting her kids look at pornography. She dreads that thought. The mom, Rita Templeton, lets her children see her naked.

In a Huffington Post article, Templeton says she lets her young sons see her naked so that their first exposure to the female body won’t be the “impossibly perfect physiques in those magazines or those movies.”

Here’s how she explains her decision:

“I don’t lounge around in the buff like my boys do (and I spend more time saying, “Put on some pants!” than anything else) — but I’ve never refrained from changing clothes in front of them, or leaving the door open when I shower, or nursing babies without a cover. Because I want them to see what a real female body looks like. Because if I don’t — and their first images of a naked woman are the impossibly perfect physiques in those magazines or those movies — what kind of expectations will they have? And what woman could ever live up to them?”

She says she hopes to teach her sons that a real body, one with flab and imperfections, is nothing to be ashamed of.

“I don’t want to do them, or any women they might happen to see naked in the future, the disservice of telling them that saggy boobs are bad or that a little bit of flab is something to be ashamed of. I want them to know that this is the norm, not the nipped-tucked-and-digitally-enhanced images they’re going to be bombarded with. Sure, they’ll gawk at those bouncy boobies and flat stomachs and perky butts… but I have hope that, deep down inside, they’ll know that isn’t the standard to which they should hold women’s bodies.”

She hopes that by exposing her sons to her body, she can cultivate a lasting, healthy concept of body image in their minds.

“Because while they’re young, I want to plant the seed — so that when they’re older, and their wives say, ‘I wish my thighs were smaller,’ my sons can say, ‘They’re perfect just the way they are.’ And mean it.”

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Thoughts on this article?
Should we expose our young children to our naked bodies?
If yes, does it matter what sex they are?

Thoughts on this article?
Well one piece of pertinent information was left out, how old the kids are? Braxton is two and he still takes baths or likes to jump in the shower with me. Ava is 6 and once and awhile I will change in front of her, top only, but now that she is becoming more body aware and knows what different parts are (she used to pay no mind so it was never a big deal for me) I decided that she needs to be limited to what she sees. Every parent sees this subject differently but one thing that has to be kept in mind is exposing children to nudity, depending on how it's done, in some places can and is seen as child abuse and people are prosecuted for it. For me I think there is a certain age where children don't need to see mom and dad naked. Yes I am all for being open and honest and if my kids ever have any questions about bodies, their parts etc....I will ALWAYS answer truthfully but kids also need to be kids and keep their innocence as long as they can

In my opinion there is nothing wrong with nudity whatsoever and I believe it would be a really healthy way to raise your children. One of the biggest problems in our society is that everything has been overly sexualised and people tend to overreact to the simplest most innocent things. Imagine if the body was seen as just that, your body, no big deal, we all have one. I think that would be truly freeing on so many levels.
One example, I dated a guy in my teen years who was from a total hippy family. One day I was over there having a visit and mom comes walking out from the shower completely naked and goes to her room to dress. Nobody batted an eyelash because, in that household, it was perfectly normal,  no big deal. I was shocked for a moment but after observing other peoples reactions and thinking about it a bit I realised how perfectly natural that was and it changed a lot about the way I see the human body.