All three of my kids loved going to naturist clubs and swims when they were young, and although none of them are still naturists (they're all over 26 now), one of them said recently that he has fun telling people at work about it, and when they react with shock and ask what that was like, he says "Who wouldn't want to run around playing naked as a child?  It was great fun!".

Let kids enjoy that simple freedom and fun before they get older and absorb all the negative attitudes from society about nudity and body image etc.  They won't all continue to be naturists as adults but at least you've given them that experience and maybe done a little bit to change attitudes.

Totally agree John. And although they may not be naturists today who knows what the future will bring for them. 

Our children had the best of fun times at naturist campsites and beaches and no matter what they decide in later life or what other positives they get from the experience to take into life, they had a wonderful, relaxed, adventurous and nurturing time with us as children and that will always be something they have to remember. 

I have had an interesting conversation about children and nudity via email and it has lead me to thinking about this for the Forum. 

The conversation has basically been about how we illustrate children in naturism in an innocent and healthy way while dealing with the modern world and how it views children and the almost paranoid obsession that children are in danger. Finding a natural balance is not easy because like so much of modern life there are black and white extremes that overshadow the grey, and more sensible, middle ground. 

99% of people naturally despise the abuse of children, but that does not mean that 99% of people believe that a naturist or other innocent photograph of a family or child is abusive. The problem is that we live in a world now that if you do not opt for one choice you fear being tagged in to the other. The world is so delicate that people fear that if they do not take the extreme position of stating childhood nudity is wrong, then they will be seen as perverts, instead of being seen as having a sensible approach to the situation. Childhood nudity in itself cannot be wrong, but abusing childhood nudity is always wrong. Intent and behaviour is always key, and the world needs to stop being so cowardly and lazy and expecting that we cannot use our intelligence to decide between right and wrong, good and bad, nice and nasty. 

We live in a world now that expects positive discrimination, assumes the worst of people if they do not agree with the highly vocal minority and forces people into extreme proclamations. We mostly all want equality, we mostly all want to live in peace. We do not need to wear badges to show that. 

Go back a few decades and a film could show children skinny dipping in a lake or being bathed by their parents with now worries. Jump forward to the 2020's and we have naturist events fearing protests because family naturism involves children! A very small minority of people want to vocalise that children and nudity does not mix, whether they actually believe that is in question, but in a world increasing obsessed with people choosing extreme sides, rather than looking at walking the sensible middle ground, the argument no matter how illogical taps in to a need to choose. Are you for or against. No one is expected to say "well I am against child abuse, but can see that children in naturism are simply enjoying a healthy life choice with their families." The modern black and white system states, "such grey territory is simply a sign of hiding your own perversion! A true non pervert would have to say all nudity is evil." And sadly when you look through social media that is often the case, Instagram/Facebook's blanket ban on one side and Twitter/Me We's hard core sexual images shared like others share their restaurant images on the other. 

So where does that leave naturism and ANW? 

As A Naturist Family we have always opted to tastefully blur the images we show of our children.  Such as the one introducing this article: https://anaturistworld.com/article/naturism-the-natural-choice 

It isn't something we feel totally comfortable about, but it seems to us the lesser of two evils. We still show that our family enjoys naturism, we leave the choice of full nudity to our children when they are adults, and we ensure that we don't cross a line where people may claim they are uncomfortable with seeing such images. Without going as far as to say, we will not allow our children/family to be seen at all. Some may think the blurring is too much, others may feel that they do not want children seen at all, but we feel we walk a sensible line in the middle. We have actually had message/emails thanking us for this, as sadly (although understandably) people like to not have to deal with the emotional quandary themselves. In reality some people do feel awkward about seeing children naked and that includes beaches, because, and here is the rub, the message of paranoia is taking a strong hold on our conscious feelings. Some people worry that if they see a family on the beach and think that is cute, then they are stepping into a dangerous world that they are taught to loath. We do not have to dislike innocent nudity to hate abuse. Our human instinct is to enjoy seeing children play and be happy, we are learning to feel uncomfortable about that. If a child is crying in a park, our instinct should be to help, but we are going against our instinct because we fear giving them attention will lead to people assuming we are a threat. 

Over the 5 years ANW has existed we have had no firm rules over childhood nudity. 

With our Terms of Service stating this:

Photographs containing children on this site;

ANW recognise naturism is a family-friendly, universal lifestyle suitable for people of all ages. ANW is not against images of children within a naturist family environment. ANW advise, however, that caution be taken with the use of and the sharing of such images. There is nothing within naturism that suggests the body should be censored. ANW however, acknowledges that society carries strong concerns over the protection of minors. ANW fully supports and encourages the use of cropping and blurring where appropriate. It may be a sad reflection of modern society but the miss-use of images of children on the internet is something that cannot be ignored. It is for this reason that ANW does not allow images to show the genitalia of minors. If you choose to share family photographs consider the use very carefully and use photographs that do not attract the wrong attention or interpretation of your Profile and intentions.    

Anyone displaying an unhealthy interest in uploading multiple images or images out of context of minors will be removed from the site and in certain circumstances will be reported to the relevant authorities. This will also apply to those members who show such interest in other members' family photos. 

and this: 

9. Child Safety:

A Naturist World as stipulated in point 4 above, will not tolerate any imagery, videos or verbal communication that is deemed to be inappropriate or that could put children at risk. We will provide information and records to the authorities or when legally requested to do so. This information can contain IP addresses, personal messages, email addresses as well as any further information.

A visit to https://www.iwf.org.uk will help you understand what is deemed to be inappropriate content.

A visit to https://consult.justice.gov.uk will give you a better understanding of what constitutes indecent imagery.

And as such the ANW community has been naturally very sensible. Never have we felt anyone has shown anything that has lead us to question their motives, and the few photos shared (blurred or not blurred) by some members have always felt in place with their other images and ANW and naturism. 

As always a genuine equality and sensible approach seems the best fit. ANW is a community that we should all be proud of and a great representation of real humanity and logic. 

But where does the world and naturism go from here. How do we take the sensible middle ground when the world is so afraid of such logical and natural stances. 

Share you thoughts about this topic.  

This is one of the most difficult topics that naturism faces today, and for all parents, it is a cause of concern and requires some degree of very careful management. All naturists are aware of the law, but they are also aware of the massive positive influences for children raised within a naturist family life, and the benefits that come with it for the mental health of the child.

Sharing images is a minefield, and we have a lot of experience in how to properly manage photography within naturism, which just happens to be in line with the ANW code of practice, as well as adhering to the British Naturism guidelines.

During our events hosted at Halkyn Castle Wood in 2023, we had the very difficult situation of managing the images that were shown only within set boundaries inside of naturist circles. Our photo policy was very strict, if anything, whilst we kept all aspects of the events very informal and relaxed, as the organisers we had a very tight policy on who took images for the event, and who controlled what was shown.

Taking images of children was not allowed, although, as happens a lot with children enjoying themselves, they did run into the frames whilst the photo’s were being taken. Censorship of such images came down to one person who controlled all of the images used for the event. Rob took the lead on this, and received all the images and ensured those photographers nominated deleted all images from their computers.

It is a massively difficult task, and selecting those who had photography rights was very difficult, as trust was an important issue for us. Our selection was made using professional photographers within naturism, who had already been identified as trusted at a national level. Our decision to manage the images in this matter meant only one person had full access to all the images, and at the time there was some criticism of us for taking too long in the releasing of some of the images to BN and ANW.

The simple truth was, Rob went through all the images cropping out children that strayed into the frame of the shot, or deleting images where the children could not be removed. We had hundreds of images to go through, and for nine days Rob worked all day, releasing child free images in batches to the BN designated poster, and for ANW appropriate use. We did not blur; we cropped all children out. We deleted far more images than we cropped.

Children love to be naked and free, and there is a joy in feeling that level of freedom that brings them alive as they play with the greatest level of comfort possible for them. In many ways, it is sad that the world does not recognise this, because it is a scene of pure innocence, and in a world that corrupts children and exploits them at times, it is saddening that such a pure moment of pure truth of the innocence of children is not given the validation it deserves. We have raised our own children within naturism, they are confident and relaxed about their bodies, and we would say have handled puberty far better than many in the textile world. Sadly, for us as parents and as organisers at a family event, we have to be ever aware of the rest of the world and the perceptions of others, and especially how there is a uneducated faction in the world that will either attack us for our views, or try to manipulate and use any child images they can obtain their own sick amusement. It is a difficult line to walk, as we have seen throughout the lives of our children, which is how long we have managed life around naturism with them.

Our daughter has grown up within naturism and takes an active part in all that we do, but under the law she is still a minor, and so as we have included her in our activities on ANW, whilst she at times was eager to share her joy of things we did within naturism for ANW, we have managed what images of her were released, what context they were shown in, and how the images were edited. She was a part of the whole process from start to finish, and we have used cropping of images of her in a very careful and skilful manner. In many cases, she did the cropping.

There is no doubt the full images portrayed an image of pure innocent joy, but we could not allow them to be shown, and for us, the main focus of what we have used has been to highlight the joy via her happy face. Images were cropped to the shoulders and above, her smile is radiant, and image implies her nudity, but does not focus on it. Her face tells the story of her freedom and happiness, and carries the emotional significance of the moment perfectly. As many ANW viewers have seen, and it is because of that, many members have commented on her complete happiness. That is enough to show why naturism benefits children, and we feel is a comfortable middle ground to walk.

We have used images shot from behind, as she joined us around our home garden for some of the blogs, in some cases she was asked to wear underwear for the pictures, as this protected us and ANW from any who would chose to try and abuse the site. It really is sad that the world has been so easily led by the media into believing nudity is in some way shameful or immoral, especially when you consider that it is the media more than any that has used the sexualisation of everything as a tool of sales for decades. The media happily excuses the clothing lines that sexualise and exploit young children, dressing them like provocative adults, and deliberately hides sex offenders of high profile well known figures, but draws the line at an innocent naked form, the hypocrisy is rife, but their coffers are full.

There is no doubt in our minds children should be protected, we believe all children should have the benefit of a full childhood of purity and innocence, and that they should not be exploited or violated in any way at all. We do not believe naturism harms children, but we do believe media and large corporations have a vested interest in the monetisation of the young. We see this daily in their use of influencers who are flooded onto young peoples social media sites, to take financial advantage on them, and yet no one highlights this.

Naturism is currently held at stalemate by over zealous activists who feel they have the moral right to expose, dox, and attack anyone who in their minds has an ulterior motive of a sexual nature towards children. Having been a very vocal partnership within naturism for families, through our blogs and activities, we would question where such activists get such vile notions from, and would say it is within their own sick minds that this perverted ideology starts, not naturists. We are solid supporters of the view that naturism is wholesome, and innocent, as witnessed in  our own journey through naturism for well over a decade, and we can say without doubt, if naturism or anyone within it showed even the slightest inclination to hurt or exploit a child, we would expose them and prevent them, as would all true naturists.

We need to find a workable balance within naturism, and it is a difficult road to walk, we know, we are walking it, but there are ways and means, and we are always looking for more, to help naturism support families better inside naturist circles, of which our track record we feel is evident. Children’s images online should be censored for safety reasons, not because we feel naturists will do harm, but because we feel a minority of none naturists will. Protecting children should be a number one priority of all naturists, and we hope going forward the debate to help naturist families will continue on ANW as we all work within the guidelines of all of our countries of origin to show naturism is safe for all, and takes great care of everyone adults and children alike within our naturist community. That can be easily done, by firstly reporting those who would come to ANW for nefarious purposes, and getting them removed from the site. Remember, when things come to light, as they did in 2020, be careful in how you approach it, and take into account that if someone does break the rules, it is not because they are a naturist, it is because they are a criminal. Blame the crime, and those who commit them, not naturism.

Thanks for that RnR. And may I just point out to anyone reading, any impatience shown in regards to sharing imagery from Halkyn on ANW did not come from myself or Anna. We know full well that the process of creating various activity like blogs etc can be quite time consuming and 100 other things can get in the way. 

We also do rely on cropping, and usually go for that first, but occasionally for the individual photo cropping doesn't work, it is a frustrating thing as we should not have to worry about this at all, and it makes me angry that so much of what we do in the world is based on reacting to extreme minorities. All children should be able to always be safe, and all images of children should be as natural and innocent as the children themselves. Society is robbing children of their innocence and that is a crime in my books. 

The internet is driven by profiteering. And I do feel there is a difference between a serious business endeavour offering a product or service, such as ANW, than something that exists purely to coax people into spending money/or advertise to people. Children are seen as a massive target in this and you only have to look at the quality of things being shared to see that they are not aimed at a mature and more discerning audience. There are apps, including big ones like TikTok that are flourishing because of children and teens. There are YouTube millionaires who basically make short videos for children to become addicted to. The humour is incredibly childish and the topics, such as watching someone play a computer game for an hour has the only purpose of filling hours for those children taking time out from their own playstations.  

Children are being exploited everywhere, naturism is one of the rare exceptions, and that needs to be better understood.