By brhmsj
Copyright 2024 by brhmsj, all rights reserved
* * * * *Contemplating Stripping Our Sons for Florida
Bert and
Ann, parents of three boys, are interviewed regarding their possible
move to Florida. An important part of the Stripped For Florida Program
is understanding how parents from other states, especially northern
states with colder climates, respond to learning about the program.
Word is spreading about the program but it is still the case that many
parents have no idea that it exists.
Much of what Bert and Ann say
is typical of what we hear from parents. Many, like Bert and Ann, are
initially ambivalent but very few oppose it unwaveringly.
There
were two interviews – one when they first learned about Stripped For
Florida, then a follow-up after a final decision was made about the
potential move to Florida. Bert and Ann were encouraged to tell their
story rather than be asked a series of questions.
Ann’s Story
We
are here because sometime next Spring our family, my husband Bert and
our three boys, Andy (11), Nicky (9), and Tommy (6) might move to
Florida. It is a difficult decision and we still are not entirely sure
about it. My husband, Bert, has had a very good job offer but we’re not
sure how we feel about relocating. It will be a big change.
As
we’ve discussed this move we naturally have done some research on
Florida: places to live, schools, the usual. We discovered one
intriguing thing about Florida, which is the Stripped For Florida
program. Right now we’re not sure what we think of the program but for
the time being, at least, it is not a major concern regarding the move.
I am quite curious about it, however. I do know one thing – I’m tired
already of Andy’s unnecessary modesty. I’ve always felt that boys
should not be modest. With all three boys we would let them be naked on
beaches and never made it an issue at home if they were undressed,
unless it was at an inappropriate time. It is natural for boys to be
awkward about the physical changes of puberty but that’s no reason to
be modest. With Andy I think it is as much that he sees other boys
behaving modestly so he thinks that’s what he has to do, too.
I know I’m not alone in my feelings about boys and modesty. I remember
that my brothers were not allowed undue modesty, though never required
to be nude. I always thought it was just our family. Apparently it is a
wider philosophy than we realized.
From what we can see, the
response to the Stripped For Florida program seems to have been
positive. Kids grow up to be well socialized, have a healthy respect
for sex, and the rate of sexual abuse in the state is remarkably low.
Any parent can feel good about such results.
It is something that will need to be decided at some point.
Bert’s Story
Before we continue I want to say that I am satisfied with my current job, which adds to our difficulty in making this decision.
Andy will be twelve when we move, if we do. As Ann said, he’s moving
into that adolescent phase of being shy and embarrassed about his body.
I tried encouraging him to be free to come into the bathroom when I’m
showering so he could see that I’m comfortable in my skin. He has done
that, but shyly. This past summer I bought him a speedo, like mine, and
took him to the beach. It was a bit of a struggle to get him to go,
then another one to get him out of his shorts and reveal the speedo
underneath. After a while, though, he noticed that girls (and some
boys, too) were giving him the eye and I could see that he was relaxing
a bit. Once we were home he reverted to his usual behavior, however.
Being stripped in Florida will force him to get over that shyness,
which I think is all to the good. As a Dad, I like the idea of getting
to see my sons develop into men. Any Dad would.
Ann’s Story
Little
boys and girls take joy in being naked until social norms stop that. Of
course we know that girls need their modesty by the time they start
school. Our boys are no different. The younger two still can be seen
naked around the house going to and from the bathroom. Sometimes they
don’t hurry to get dressed, either! It appears that Nicky is sleeping
naked. At least I see no pajamas needing washing. We’ve even had some
moments of needing to make Tommy get dressed. All natural boyish
behavior. We can only hope that doesn’t change and being stripped will
ensure that.
So one question we have to face is when to put
the boys into the program. We agree that, if we do it, Andy is the
right age. Bert and I are also in agreement that it will do him good to
learn that there is no reason to be shy about his body. Nicky could
start soon, too. We know that boys as young as ten can be stripped. I
guess that would ensure that they’re used to it by the time puberty
arrives.
However, I’m not sure how I feel about the boys
parading around hard all the time. I’m glad to see my boys naked, as
any Mom is, but perhaps not with perpetual erections. Bert and I did
get a laugh when I said “well, I can compare them to you.” That
shouldn’t be what it’s about, though.
Bert’s Story
I
was amused when Ann said she’d be able to compare our sons to me! I
hadn’t thought about it that way but there always are similarities
between fathers and sons. Who knows what it might be when the boys’
genitals are fully developed. She’s made me curious but that’s hardly
what matters.
At dinner one night I decided to test the waters
with the boys on this. They knew that I’d had the job offer in Florida.
If they knew about Stripped For Florida, we hadn’t told them yet so
they didn’t learn it from us. They hadn’t said anything to us so we
assumed they didn’t know about it.
“When we move to Florida,
how would you boys like to be nude all the time?” I asked, trying to be
direct and to sound jolly at the same time. Andy looked horrified.
About what I expected. Nicky looked confused. Tommy seemed delighted at
the possibility. He’s always been the one who seemed to most enjoy
being naked, but he is young yet.
“Do you mean that Stripped thing they do?” Andy asked after a pause.
“Why yes, I do,” I answered. As I said, we didn’t think that the boys would know about it.
“It’s good for boys,” Ann said, trying to sound encouraging.
“But you’d see me naked all the time,” Andy protested. “People I don’t
know will see me naked. Girls and stuff!” I was a bit amused at his
preteen modesty. I remembered well how I felt at that age. My father
hadn’t handled it well. His solution was from an early age to keep my
two brothers and me naked on Saturdays and Sundays after church. As we
got older unexpected boners, especially in front of my mother, felt
humiliating, but we had no choice. I learned to be comfortable about my
nudity, as did one brother. The other never adjusted, though he still
loves to wear skimpy bathing suits.
“Yes, dear, everyone will
see you naked. In Florida everyone sees all the boys naked. There’s
nothing wrong with it and boys shouldn’t be so modest, anyhow,” Ann
added. Andy didn’t look convinced.
“Well, nothing has been
decided yet, but if we do move, we don’t want you boys feeling
different from the other boys, so it may be a good idea to put you in
the program.” There were no replies and that was the end of the
discussion. For the moment.
Ann’s Story
“I’ve read about ‘Naked at Home,’” I told Bert one night after the boys were upstairs.
“Naked at Home?”
“Yes. It’s a program where boys have to be naked fulltime at home, but
only at home. It has various purposes but for us it could be a way to
get them used to being naked. We could modify it a bit and let them be
clothed when people are here.”
We decided to give it some
thought. Bert even thought that some of the boys’ friends might enjoy
having a place to be naked. I wasn’t so sure! For the time being we
decided not to say anything about it unless we definitely planned to
move to Florida.
Bert’s Story
I decided
it was time to give them the big picture of the nudity in my house when
I was growing up. Frankly, I don’t know why I never had, it just never
happened. So one night at dinner I said that I had something I wanted
to tell them, something about being naked at home. As I expected Andy’s
jaw dropped when he heard that we spent weekends naked except for
church.
Andy was full of questions, all being of a protesting
nature. Nicky said nothing. Tommy finally said “I guess that could be
cool. Do our friends get naked, too?” I said that we could not require
nudity of other families so would allow our boys to dress when friends
visited, if they wanted. He seemed satisfied with that.
Nothing was resolved for the moment. I reassured Andy that he’d have
plenty of advance notice if we wanted to give Naked at Home a try. He
said nothing and that was the end of it for the time being.
Ann’s Story
However,
we were in for a surprise! Nothing had been said about Florida or Naked
at Home for a couple of weeks but one night at dinner Tommy, of all
people, piped up “did you know that some boys have to be naked all the
time at home?” I almost laughed at Andy’s face when he heard that.
Maybe we should make that the rule and cure him of his modesty.
“And where did you hear about this?” Bert asked. I could tell that it was all he could do to keep a straight face.
“My friend Billy and his brother are always naked at home,” Tommy said.
“Billy Foster?” I asked.
“Who else?” Tommy replied as if it were a silly question.
“They can’t wear clothes at home?” Andy asked, sounding quite shocked.
“Yeah, why not?” Tommy said. None of this was seeming at all strange to
him. Maybe Naked at Home had a foot in the door at our house.
Now Bert wanted to know more. How long had the Fosters been doing this?
Tommy wasn’t sure but it sounded like it had been for a while. Nick had
a bemused look but had said nothing. He didn’t really know the Foster
boys.
Bert pressed on. Did they like it? Tommy’s answer was an
enthusiastic “they love it!” I thought about it. Billy, of course, was
Tommy’s age, six, an age when boys still weren’t concerned about their
bodies. His older brother, Ricky, was ten, so not in the same grade as
either Andy or Nick, so they didn’t know him well, either. Not knocking
at the door of puberty as Andy would be soon, so likely he wasn’t
seeing nudity as an issue yet.
“Well, we’re not doing that here!” Andy proclaimed.
“Is that so?” his father responded with a twinkle in his eye. Now I
needed to keep a straight face. Andy was speechless at that and for the
time being the discussion was over.
Bert’s Story
Ann
and I could have been knocked over by a feather when Tommy told us
about the Foster boys. I thought Jack Foster and I were pretty good
friends but he’d never intimated that anything like that went on at
their house. I made a point of “accidentally” bumping into him a local
restaurant at lunchtime. Fortunately he was alone.
I admit I
was a bit nervous bringing up the subject but when things were quite
relaxed, I said “Tommy had a bit of interesting information for us
recently.”
Jack started to laugh. “About naked life at the Foster household?”
“Well, yes,” I said. I certainly was surprised at his easy reaction.
Jack was hardly unwilling to tell me about it. His boys had always
enjoyed being without clothes, often appearing naked at inappropriate
times. Jack and his wife were able to take it in stride. At some point
she heard about Naked at Home and thought that starting it when the
boys were so young would make things easier when they reached puberty
and then they might not be so shy about their bodies.
“Too
early to tell yet, of course,” said Jack in conclusion. “We’ll know in
a year or so when Ricky does hit puberty. I’m hoping he stays as
comfortable as he is now. Boys should not be modest.”
With
things open now I told Jack about our family and the possible move to
Florida. He’d heard about Stripped For Florida and liked the idea.
Liked it enough that there had been discussion about moving there for
the sake of their sons. Interesting, I thought.
I thanked him
for being so open. He offered to invite us to dinner so that he and
Sally could tell us about Naked at Home and maybe learn a bit more
about Stripped For Florida. I said I’d talk it over with Ann and be in
touch.
Ann’s Story
It felt to me like
things suddenly were moving fast. At least with young male nudity. Bert
told me about his lunch with Jack and the invitation. I was happy to
learn more about their lifestyle. The following Friday we were at the
Fosters’. We left our boys on their own as we didn’t expect to be late.
On the ride over we did say that we were unsure what to expect
regarding what the Foster boys would be wearing, if anything. There was
no requirement for them to be naked around guests, so they were dressed
when we arrived.
While we had cocktails the boys had their
dinner then were off to the kid cave in the cellar. Soon after we sat
down for the adult dinner.
“Likely those two are naked down
there,” said Jack with an amused look. “They were good tonight but
there have been times when it’s been a bit of work to make sure they
are clothed when guests arrive.” I had no idea what to say so waited
for him to continue.
Sally joined in. “No need to beat around
the bush. We know you’re curious about Naked at Home here at the Foster
house.” Between them they told us about it, the history of how it came
about. Apparently it was a nationwide thing, though still a bit “in the
closet,” as it were. Sally and Jack made us quite comfortable and we
had no trouble asking questions. Both had grown up in families that had
Naked at Home for the sons, so it was quite normal for them. Bert
shared his childhood experience.
“Well, then, you have the picture,” Jack said with a smile.
Eventually the Florida move and Stripped For Florida came up and it was our turn to answer questions.
“Stripped For Florida sounds great to us,” Sally said after we’d talked
awhile. “Almost a good excuse to move there. We can understand your
conundrum.” Hearing that was helpful.
To everyone’s amusement,
sure enough eventually two naked boys appeared to say good night as
they headed upstairs to their bedrooms. They certainly are cute boys
and a pleasure to see naked. I felt a bit like a dirty old lady but
Jack and Sally kept us at ease.
“You see what we mean about
them,” Jack said when the boys had disappeared. Yes, we did! There was
much to be discussed at our house over the next few days.
What
seemed like a good start for us was to let Nick and Tommy live naked if
they wanted to, then see how Andy responded. Tommy was delighted, as we
expected. As I said, Nick already was sleeping naked. That seemed to
let him ease into more fulltime nudity. Now Tommy is naked as soon as
he gets in the door after school. Nick needed to get used to the idea
but after a month our two younger boys were naked most of the time.
Shirts and at least sweats were required at dinner time but breakfast
had no dress code. Breakfast confirmed that neither of them were
wearing pajamas anymore.
So, now we watched Andy’s reactions.
Bert’s Story
I
really had to laugh at Tommy when we said the boys were free to be
naked at home. It turns out that he is quite the little exhibitionist.
Nick joined in after a while. I knew he was okay with being naked but
he wasn’t sure how “cool” it was, even at home.
Andy needed
work. He and I had a number of conversations about it. It was time to
discuss the birds and the bees anyhow, though like most kids nowadays
he knew most everything already. I stayed calm and was gentle in
touching on these topics, especially the nudity. I asked if he’d feel
better if I were naked sometimes. No surprise, he wasn’t at all
enthusiastic about that! What kid that age wants to see his old man
naked?
My brothers and I learned, perhaps the hard way, that
boys should not be modest. As I said before, Dad instituted naked
weekends, other than church, of course. We had no choice and none of us
can remember a time when we weren’t naked on weekends. In the long run
it was good in that we did learn to be positive about nudity, even
proud of our developing bodies. Even so, we had the usual awkward time
of it when puberty began. Andy knew about some of this but it seemed to
me that some of our talks were eye openers for him.
Eventually
Andy did tell me that he was embarrassed because he had only just
started growing hair in the usual places. He said he didn’t have much
yet and thought he should. I was glad he could open up with me. He was
seeing older boys after gym class who had full pubes. I told him there
was nothing to be embarrassed about. Each boy was unique. That left him
thoughtful and it seemed wise to end that talk for the time being.
A couple of days later he approached me in the den after dinner. I could tell he had something on his mind.
“So, Dad, what if I. . .”
I said nothing, just letting him take his time. Finally he blurted out
“what if I was naked just in my room sometimes?” He was beet red when
he finally got it out.
“That’s fine. I’d say it’s a good way to start.”
“That wasn’t what I meant,” he said. I accepted that but felt it was likely that it was what he meant. “Anyhow, that’s all.” With that he went up to his room. I heard the door shut but that was not unusual.
By ten o’clock my curiosity was getting the best of me. I went up and
gently tapped on his door. I could hear some scrambling before he gave
me the “come in.”
“Just seeing what’s up.” It wasn’t unusual
for me to look in on the boys. Andy had on his bathrobe. I assumed he
was naked underneath it. “Everything cool?”
“Yeah, just doing homework.”
I could see that he had been doing schoolwork. “OK. Just wanted to say hello,” I said and left.
Ann’s Story
One
night Bert and Andy seemed to have something going on. I waited until
we were in bed to ask. “Something’s up with Andy.” Bert said I always
knew when “something was up” with me and the boys.
“Don’t say
anything until he brings it up. He asked if he could be naked in his
room sometimes. I told him that was fine and told him it would be good
way to start. He didn’t like that I called it a start.”
“I won’t say a thing,” I promised.
After that I have to admit that I was watching Andy to see how things
would develop. If at all. By this time Nick and Tommy were naked a lot
of the time. I couldn’t tell how Andy felt about them being naked so
much but if he was being naked in private then they must have been
having an effect on him.
We finally had a breakthrough of
sorts. One morning I was about to go downstairs and Andy popped out of
the bathroom, stark naked. He didn’t even flinch when he saw me. He
greeted me shyly but otherwise seemed unembarrassed. By the next week
we had three boys naked at home.
It was a pleasure seeing him as puberty was beginning, but I said nothing about that!
Bert’s Story
I
have to admit I had a sense of pride seeing Andy’s development as he
moved into manhood. He’s in much better shape than he thinks he is but
that’s typical of all teens, I’d say. I know it took courage for him to
join his brothers in nudity and I’m proud of him for that, too.
The upshot is that if we do move to Florida I’d say that getting the
boys stripped won’t be as difficult as we feared. No doubt there will
be resistance, especially from Andy, but that’s natural, really. I
still have to decide about the job.
A few months later Ann and Bert arrived for their scheduled follow-up interview.
Bert’s Story
Since
last we spoke the job fell through. To be honest, I’m not sorry about
it but that’s another story. Anyhow, now the initial reason for
encouraging their nudity was gone. All three were happy not to be
leaving but nothing was said about being clothed around the house. And
they haven’t been since. Seems ironic but it seems that Stripped For
Florida worked without going to Florida.
Both parents laughed at this.
Ann’s Story
In
fact we’ve got a bit of a nudist colony going on in the house now.
Right away Tommy invited his friend Bill Foster to come over when he
wanted. Billy must have blabbed because some of their other friends
found out that the boys were naked at home and they wanted to join in,
meaning that they wanted to be naked at our house. We’ve been careful
to clear it with parents. To our further surprise quite a few others in
our town know about Stripped For Florida and Naked at Home. But the
Fosters seem to be the only ones who are doing Naked at Home, as best
we can tell. We seem to have started a trend. Or joined one. The idea
that boys should not be modest is wider spread than we knew and
definitely a philosophy in our town, too. It’s always a pleasure having
naked boys around.
So, that’s us. It’s too bad this state isn’t warm enough to have a stripped program of its own.