Expert explains impact of seeing parents naked as mum reveals why she walks round house nude in front of teenage son
Experts have weighed in on the psychological impact seeing your parents naked can have after one mother admitted to regularly chatting to her child in the nude.
Australian mum-of-one Molly Manning has taken a proactive approach when it comes to her teenage son’s sex education.
The 49-year-old initially relocated from Down Under to Los Angeles after experiencing financial struggles and is now trying to build a ‘comfortable’ life for herself and her son.
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As well as creating content on OnlyFans, Manning branched out into shooting mainstream pornography upon setting up shop in LA.
At home, she remains a doting mother trying to teach her son that the naked body doesn’t always have to be perceived as sexual.
“I'm very comfortable with my sexuality. I'm the kind of person who doesn't have a problem occasionally walking around naked,” she explained.
"My son will have a conversation with me and I'll be topless or getting dressed; just because I'm naked doesn't mean it's sexual, that’s the viewers' mentality.
"I’m very liberal in regards to nudity and there's nothing sexual about me being naked at home.
"The reality of it is, if a child can't see a naked female or male at home and that be their first point of reference for nudity, then there's something wrong.”
Manning’s comments promoting nudity in the home previously have been debated by parent coach Dawn Huebner and Susan Bartell, a New York-based child and parenting psychologist.
Casual nudity can help you accept your body
Speaking to Healthline, Hubner claimed: “The goal with children is to foster delight and confidence in their bodies while gradually, over time, teaching norms related to privacy and consent.”
Young children seeing their parents naked can help them to become more attuned to bodily functions, according to the coach.
“Casual nudity in front of small children helps them learn to be accepting of bodies — to see that bodies are functional, strong, and normal, regardless of shape or size,” the expert explained.
“As long as nudity is separated from sexuality, there is no disadvantage to a parent being naked around a young child.”
Older children can become uncomfortable
It’s understood that somewhere between the ages of four and eight, children begin to ‘develop a sense of modesty’ about their own bodies.
“And a corresponding discomfort with seeing their parents’ naked bodies,” writes Huebner.
Therefore parents should ‘respect the needs and sensibilities’ of their children.
“You want them to see that they have a right to choose what feels OK and what doesn’t when it comes to their own bodies.”
Opposite sex pairings can create a negative dynamic
Meanwhile Bartell has weighed in on one woman’s choice for her husband to never be fully dressed in front of their daughter.
“If you’re very clear what the boundaries are, then that child has no question whatsoever,” she said. “It never OK [for that little girl] to see an adult man naked — that is clear for that child.”
While Bartell believes it’s always appropriate for children to be naked around their same-sex parents, she claims a different dynamic eventually develops with mothers/sons and fathers/daughters.
Previous studies suggest parental nudity harm is exaggerated
In 1998, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles published a paper titled ‘Early childhood exposure to parental nudity and scenes of parental sexuality (’primal scenes’): an 18-year longitudinal study of outcome’.
The report followed a series of families over an 18-year period and found no lasting negative effects among teenagers who regularly observed their parents naked between the ages of three to six.
While there haven’t been whole load of studies into the subject, the paper suggested that ‘pervasive beliefs in the harmfulness of the predictor variables are exaggerated’.
Ella Scott