I'm Not Wearing Any Pants

As is true of most small children, both of my children like to be as naked as possible at all times. My son is very good at undressing himself, including taking off his diaper, so it is not that unusual a sight to come into his room in the morning or after his afternoon nap and find him running around naked as a jaybird. Or occasionally naked as a jaybird wearing shoes.

He has also mastered the art of timing an escape from the changing table so he gets to run around either naked or in just a diaper for a few minutes until I can catch him. (The changing table is on the floor – he’s not quite agile enough to escape from the other changing table that’s on top of the dresser. Yet.) He’s also been known to thrash and kick to avoid wearing pants. Apparently, any degree of nakedness is preferable to wearing clothes.

And his sister is getting to be the same way. She is getting so active that sometimes she manages to wriggle her legs up inside her sleeper so they get stuck. And now that she’s pulling herself up on everything, slippery socks or sleeper feet are very inconvenient, not to mention downright dangerous. So she also prefers to solve the problem by simply being naked.

And as much as I’m a bit embarrassed to admit it, I let them be naked whenever I can. After all, how short is the part of your life when you can run around naked without shame? And how beautiful is a completely uninhibited, naked child? They’re not worried about cellulite on their thighs, or a jiggly belly, or upper arm wattles. They’re not concerned about what anyone else thinks about them. They have pure joy in their own bodies. In fact, as you can see from the above photograph, they find their own bodies endlessly fascinating, as well they should.

So get naked while you can, little ones. All too soon you’ll start seeing some perceived imperfections instead of the perfect, beautiful gift of a strong, healthy, amazing body. While you still see yourself honestly and without shame, go ahead - take off your pants!