Family Naturism: Raising Body Positive Children

14/07/2024

Did anyone manage a naked swim for International Skinny Dip Day yesterday? By pure chance I was here, so I did!!!

05/07/2024

One of the only photos I took at British Naturism’s youth and family festival in May - the friendly local baby bunny!

A beautiful weekend nurturing my soul surrounded by nature and the most incredible people - naturists are consistently some of the most incredible people I spend time with. Full of integrity, uniqueness, fun and just the best of humanity, all sharing space together. I don’t think any of us wanted to leave!

On a small political note (sorry!), as we have just voted in a new party in the UK - there is a worrying lean towards the far right in our politics. Largely due to many circumstances, but realistically something to be wary of - and particularly for us naturists. Here in the UK, those voting for the far right party yesterday would have also been some of those violently protesting against family naturism a few years ago. For me, Naturism stands for inclusion, acceptance and respect for everyone, as well as our beautiful world. I want to use this platform for positivity and to spread that message as far as I can - I’m grateful for all the followers I have here, I never imagined this account would grow so much.

Apologies for not having posted for a while - life has been incredibly busy!

For now, I wish you all a beautiful Summer with lots of naturism however that looks for you.

Xx 🌞 xX

19/05/2024

Some fantastic naturist-friendly weather here in the UK.

Anyone else managing to enjoy some outdoor time today…?

27/03/2024

Reassuring to see so many positive and supportive comments on this article. This shows a growing shift towards a public realisation and acceptance of simple family nudity. Just a few years ago the comments section would have been a lot more negative…

A mum who lets her four-year-old see her in the shower said it's "sad when people make out its inappropriate". Emma Dickson said being naked around her son Teddy was "not a big deal", adding: "It's important to be comfortable around each other”. The 40-year-old spoke out after Hollywood star Bradley Cooper revealed he used to shower with his father when he was a child. Emma, an occupational health nurse, said she'd bathe with her son when he was a newborn and sees no issue with the tot wandering into the bathroom when she’s in there.

28/02/2024

Welcome to all the wonderful new followers! Thank you for being here 🙂
Let me know where you’re from (I’m UK) 👇🏼

01/09/2023

I wish everyone the opportunity to swim naked at least once in their lives.

It’s so natural, yet not always so easily accessible.

I made it to 30 without ever having the chance, so I’m glad it’s been a normal part of my children’s lives so far.

There’s something refreshing and all embracing about it - it’s as close to nature and the earth as I have ever felt.

If you haven’t tried it, I’m pretty sure you will love it and want to do it again and again!

26/08/2023

Flying the naturist flag whilst on part of our holiday with non-naturist friends…

08/05/2023

⭐️ NEW RESEARCH FINDINGS ⭐️

A published study confirms what naturist families experience and inherently *know* about naturism:

“This current research […] generally supports the hypothesis that naturism is predictive of positive, rather than negative, outcomes for children”

“The empirical evidence to date, including this current research, has failed to find negative effects or associations between naturism and outcomes for children”

These are the conclusions from recently published research by Keon West, professor of Social Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London.

This is a comprehensive, sensitive and balanced study. You can read the full report here 👇🏼

There are widespread, strongly held beliefs that naturism has a negative impact on children. However, naturist groups advocate for including children and prior research has not clearly investigated h...

09/04/2023

** it’s a long post!**

Last Tuesday a programme called Naked Education began a six week run on Channel Four, before the water-shed to allow for family viewing. The premise of the show is normalising nudity - showing people how normal naked bodies are:

Post-pregnant ladies discussed pregancy, childbirth and motherhood and its affect on their bodies and mental well-being as well as
disrobing and talking about their bodies together.

A lady who struggled navigating growing up being taller than her peer group, which ended in her partaking in a naked photoshoot with ‘The Naked Brigade’ - other adults who are comfortable with nudity to lead the way for the participants.

And finally, the teenagers - a group of 14-16 year olds who discuss, in this episode, body hair with the host and a doctor before seeing real body hair on four naked people, allowing for more discussion and questions.

As you can imagine, this generated lots of discussion online and on social media. Lots of people, largely who hadn’t even watched the programme, calling it obscene and inappropriate for children.

Now that the backlash has died down a little, we begin to see some more sensible and considered reflections, like the response below from Ulrika Jonsson.

In my view, we can either continue with the knowledge that our teenagers are being given unrealistic and often s*xualised expectations of bodies via social media, the internet and overly accessible p**n or we can embrace shows like this and use them as part of our wider education with them as they navigate all that it means to be a teen in today’s society.

HOW many b***s, bellies and bums can you fit into one TV programme? Well, I lost count while watching Channel 4’s Naked Education last week . . . because there were quite a few balls, too. So, forg…

08/03/2023

International Women’s Day: a day to reflect, both personally and outwardly.

Personally, I celebrate my journey with naturism. How it has helped me to grow a deeper relationship with my body, a more accepting one. How I can feel the sun or water on my skin and feel so alive 🌍.

But more importantly, the community I belong to, and the many friends and experiences I continue to have as a result. I love the connections I make with people from all areas of life, people I wouldn’t have met otherwise. Naturism helps me to be more understanding of others and their journeys through life.

Outwardly, I hold space for women who’s lives are more difficult: who have boundaries placed upon them, who cannot choose what to wear, what education to access, who to share life with. Women who are trying to survive day by day through conflict. I see you ❤️

05/02/2023

Taryn has been awarded Australian of the Year for her work addressing body image.

It’s refreshing when people such as her become role models. She recognises how body image messaging starts early for children and is focussed on promoting reality over chasing the unattainable and dissatisfying ‘perfect body’.

The more society shifts to seeing people accepting themselves for how they are and to hearing people talk about bodies in a realistic and non-judgemental way, the more society is open to accepting naturism as a way of life for everyone if they choose…

Ten years on and what have we learned?

I didn’t ask to be the poster child for the body image movement - the fact is many brave ones had gone before me and many have since followed - but there I was, at the centre of the cultural zeitgeist and I just had to lean into that.

The sheer speed at which this non-traditional before and after image made itself around the globe said everything about how far down the rabbit hole of negative body image we had gone.

Much of the last ten years of my work has been about the personal journey to self-compassion and self-acceptance (you might notice I’m not focused on ‘body positivity’, and for good reason - more on that to come).

But the fact is that we also have to address the way the environments around us feed into poor body image as well.

There’s no sense telling kids to embrace their bodies if they get conflicting messages at home from family, experience retail environments that don’t reflect them in all of their incredible diverseness, or don’t have body-image safe environments in which they can learn and play in at school.

There’s also a lot of work to be done to help people understand that body image is not limited to a weight, size, or shape issue, and it’s not just something that affects women and girls. It encompasses the way we feel about all of the physical aspects of ourselves, and that extends to things like gender, s*x, height, and skin-colour.

I’m working with a cracking team of global leaders, advocates and experts in the field to help guide the evolution of the body image movement into the next decade - looking forward to sharing the journey with you all.

TB x

24/09/2022

An interesting perspective on male body image, the pressures men (boys, teens) feel to look a certain way and the pathological steps they may then take in pursuit of it:

“We’re spending hours in the gym, missing life, when we could be honing our minds and souls, making ourselves better boyfriends, husbands and, crucially, fathers”

In naturist spaces, everyone looks different, and nobody cares, and so everyone gets on with the business of relaxing, making meaningful connections with their family and friends and enjoying all the many benefits naturism brings.

It’s good for everyone…

The idea that a man needed to be muscly to be accepted by girls was branded into me as a teenager