Took the family swimming this morning at the Emerald Forest pool, and there was a young girl about 7 or 8 years old that was swimming with swimsuit bottoms on but no top. I was SHOCKED to see this, and I honestly felt like a creep to even be in the water at the same time with her.

Am I weird? Or is this just too old to be topless at a public pool?

In this day and age, I think girls of all ages (even infants!) should be wearing a proper bathing suit.

Yeah, that would have made me feel the same. At a home pool <5 would be okay but not older than that. In public, I would cover all ages.

Though I think that I would err on the side of propriety like the rest of you, I am guessing that this child was from a family of a different culture-- maybe European? I just know things over there like this are a bit different. I am just guessing. Not saying you are wrong to feel weird, just may not have been a big deal to them.

My neighbors are European and they let their little girl run naked through the sprinkler in the front yard.

I always go into the house when this happens.

ya its odd

They say "when in Rome", so even if someone is from another country, they need to follow the rules here. That's way too old.

Am I the only one who LOL'd when they read the title of the thread?? I was expecting something entirely different..

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I was expecting something entirely different..

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Yep

To answer your question, the appropriate age range for girls to be topless at public pools:

0-1: appropriate
1-3: borderline appropriate, not encouraged
4-6: borderline inappropriate, strongly discouraged
7-17: completely inappropriate
18-45: appropriate, highly encouraged
45-60: borderline inappropriate, not encouraged
61 and older: completely inappropriate, highly discouraged

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18-45: appropriate, highly encouraged

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I about fell out of my chair when I read this

I have always put a full bathing suit on my daughter and she is only 9 months old. I think topless while at a pool or anywhere in public after a year old is inappropriate. Way too many creeps these days.

Yes, I believe they were European. No, it did not make me feel any less creepy to be in the pool with the girl.

Unmade Bed. Blue star sir.

Is what the girl doing inappropriate or is what you think about it inappropriate?

If the girl is innocent or hasn't realized she is naked or uncovered, she isn't doing anything wrong. What you think about her naked might be wrong.

djalk,

I don't think anyone is saying the little girl is "wrong" in this case. I believe it's a question of appropriateness rather than motive.

And I think the rest of what you said about the OP's "thoughts" are out of line and have no basis in regards to what was posted. I also would have found the situation to be terribly uncomfortable, and not because I would be worried about what I was thinking. I just think that's simply too old for a young girl to be half clothed in public.

Blue parachute for unmade bed.

And what about young boys being there? They shouldnt have to see a semi naked 8 year old, and I shouldnt have to explain to my kid that that is inappropriate. Boys at this same age are embarrassed to see it because they know they shouldnt be. If I wanted my kid to see someone naked, we'd go to a nude beach.... NOT a public pool!


Ethnicity has nothing to do with a poor choice like this. The parents are wrong, end of discussion.

young boys should not be subjected to an innocently topless, completely undeveloped girl. who knows what that horrible imagery could do to their development. if the topless behavior persists, take the boys home and plop them in front of an xbox so they can blow people up and revel in excessive gore like good american boys should

chrisfield,

Let me start by saying is was an in general "you", not the OP.

I have two young daughters and I look at there innocence as a gift that I am to protect. It is something that I cherish. When my daughters realize they don't want to be naked, they will start to cover up. Until then, I don't see anything wrong with it. There is no sexuality in it, just young kids.

I heard this from Christopher West, a famous teacher of the Theology of the Body. (my quote won't be perfect)

Body Bad or Body Good
Woman unclothed in her bedroom. Someone knocks on the door and asks, "are you descent?"
The woman's response is, YES, I am descent, my body was made by God, but what you think when you see my naked body may not be descent.

So the delimna is: Is the naked body bad or wrong no. Is what we think about when we see a naked body bad or wrong, could be. Should we flaunt our naked bodies and lead others into sin: NO.

As a pastor and father of a daughter, I understand what you are saying, and I think there is some value in it.

In the case of the op, I think it is a question of appropriateness regardless of how the girl may or may not view it. Kudos to her if she doens't view it as an issue of any kind. Nonetheless, there are certain standards of decency in this country, and I think that crosses the line. In order to protect the girl from those who may not be as pure minded, I think her parents should have her wear a bathing suit top as that is the cultural norm in this country for any non-toddler.

Just my two cents.




[This message has been edited by chrisfield (edited 6/20/2011 11:29a).]

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I have two young daughters and I look at there innocence as a gift that I am to protect. It is something that I cherish. When my daughters realize they don't want to be naked, they will start to cover up. Until then, I don't see anything wrong with it. There is no sexuality in it, just young kids.

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When we have reports in our own community of pedophiles being arrested in places where children congregate, I would think that keeping your daughters covered up would certainly help keep some weirdo from deciding to take your child's innocence for himself.

While you may see no sexuality in your children's nakedness, there are plenty of pedophiles out there who are only turned on by young girls who haven't started to show signs of puberty yet. No sense in giving them a free show.

And no, I'm not suggesting that anyone on this board or this thread would have those thoughts, just saying I can understand why it would make them uncomfortable, and why it's not a good policy to allow little girls to run arund topless.

Underdevloped? Have you seen some of the 8 year olds out there?!?

I just hope she out grows it FAST!

This is a strange topic but I learned a long time ago that it is perfectly legal for women to walk around topless in public in the state of Texas. Surprised more don't do it at the pools and parks and such.

I had a student come up to me upset because a woman had chastised her at her apartment pool for not wearing a top. The girl was 9-10. She said in her country (France) a young girl did not have to wear a top "until there was a reason" and that she did not look any different from a boy. I had no answer for her why it was okay for a child to be topless in Europe and not in the U.S. - although I thought to myself that U.S. men must just be creepier. I still do not understand bikinis for toddlers.

I had an acquaintance tell me that her husband would not change his daughter's diapers, because it was inappropriate and might give him "ideas" - I have never forgotten that conversation, because if that had been my husband I would have grabbed my baby and left that marriage, there is something wrong with that guy. To this day I hope he had just came up with the most disgusting excuse ever not to have to change a diaper.

unmade bed = BINGO

Beck: I want to defy
The logic of all sex laws

To the OP: Are you sure it was a girl and not a boy? I recently saw what I thought was a 5-6 year old girl (fully clothed) in the grocery store line and it turned out to be a boy. The kid was not in pink but I swear there was something that made me think 'girl' beside just the longer hair. He assured me that he was, in fact, a boy.

I think it is more an issue of modesty rather than decency at that age.

In Public we always had a suit on the girls but at our pool we were a little more relaxed until they got to about 8 or 9.

We teach our kids to be modest in public and it make buying clothes difficult sometimes.

In Moorea last year, there was a whole European family & kids that went topless on the resort. Not a big deal to most there I guess, but I found it awkward.

Who decides what's appropriate? Who's standards do we use?

Honestly, get over it. There's bigger things in life to worry about. The odds of a pedophile being at a public pool are pretty low in my estimation. They're not hurting anyone. Sorry if you're uncomfortable. I guess it's just a sad commentary on the status of men in America more than little girls from Europe. Not that you're uncomfortable, just that us men need to worry about things like that.

Actually, there probably was at least one pedophile at the pool. Perhaps even several. There are some at your church and where your kids go to school. They are everywhere and you likely know one without even realizing it.

I know you don't believe me but it is the sad truth.

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In this day and age, I think girls of all ages (even infants!) should be wearing a proper bathing suit.

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Actually, there probably was at least one pedophile at the pool. Perhaps even several. There are some at your church and where your kids go to school. They are everywhere and you likely know one without even realizing it.

I know you don't believe me but it is the sad truth.

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Whatever. Show me the statistics. There are 223 sex offenders in Brazos county. The population is 194,851. That means 1/1000 is a sex offender. I would bet only about 5-10% of the people on the sex offender list is a pedophile. That means only 5.5/100,000 people is a sex offender. Stop the hysteria.