User: Skwirrel

Hi,

Your message is a bit confusing. I'm not sure I understand the relevancy of your sexuality to the conversation or to the poll.

What is interesting is that you say that the pool you swim at has no rules with regard to age limits for children using the "wrong" change room. Are you suggesting that someone could bring their 15-year-old daughter into the men's change room? Are you also suggesting that someone could take their 16-year-old son into the women's change room? I wouldn't think so. Perhaps this facility's age limit is set at puberty.

Every part of the world has their own culture; perhaps every pool has its own culture and/or customs as well. If nobody ever changes their swimsuit in the locker room and nobody ever has a nude shower, then it makes sense that other people will be unlikely to so.

I'm not sure I understand how participating in this poll or discussion could do anything to damage your image or reputation.

I can appreciate you not wanting to attract attention to yourself at the pool by appearing interested in someone's kids; I sincerely hope you aren't interested in the kids.

It's good that the parents have their kids under strict supervision. It's a crazy world we live in. I never let my kids out of my sight.

Skwirrel

========== In Reply To ========== Eyyy... Read the subject.

When I go swimming (which is rare anyway), there are absolutely no rules whatsoever about showers, nudity, and kids' showers in other change rooms and stuff. Because there are no rules, I don't shower, and don't even go nekkid when changing.

It often seems like the people who do go naked when changing are all very cautious about being seen, due to the point that most people are looking.

I find it cute when I see kids at around about <10 years of age looking around making sure nobody is looking at them, and when they see me staring and grinning (and thinkin to myself "Awww... how cute!"), they give me an embarrassed look. They normally end up doing what they were intending on doing in the first place anyway.

When there are kiddies of the opposite sex in the change rooms, they are normally always not only with their parents, but under strict supervision of their parents. Their parents often seem to be trying to hide their kids from wondering eyes.

To avoid $%!@ing my own image up, I try to avoid appearing interested in these kids, but... Hey! I went to this poll, didn't I? And what's more, I posted on the message board!

Hi all.

I was bored the other day, so I phoned several indoor pools in our area.

1. It's about a 50/50 split here between pools that have family change rooms and those that don't.

2. Of the pools that have family change rooms here, most have individual rooms contained within.

3. Of those that have individual rooms within the family change room, most have showers inside the little room; the others have a communal shower room where virtually nobody goes nude.

4. One pool has a family change room, but it's just a large room with lockers and a large communal shower area. According to the lifeguard I spoke with, some people wait until nobody else is in the room before using it while others don't really care. Of those that use the room, about half shower nude. This pool is doing renovations this fall to put in individual rooms within the family change room.

5. Of the pools that do not have family change rooms, the age limits for children being allowed in either change room vary. A few pools drew the line at 6, a couple at 7, and a few at 8. One of the pools that had the line at 6 said they're very relaxed on the rule and basically allow whatever the parents are comfortable with (up to age 8). One of the pools that draws the line at 8 said it's usually alright for 9 year olds to go in as well.

6. Two of the pools that I talked to had mandatory nude showers before swimming. One of these pools doesn't have family change rooms and allows children of up to age 8 (and sometimes 9) into either change room. They only have group shower rooms (no stalls). According to the person I talked to, they have a lot of families and are extremely busy.

Obviously the rules are all over the map even within the same geographical area.

Any children going to the pool mentioned in point 6 will most certainly be showering nude with other kids their age that are the opposite sex. This is up to age 9, apparently.

The question is: is it a problem for boys to be nude around girls their age, and vice versa?

What about the moral issues?

And what if a girl and a boy from the same class at school see each other in the showers?

Your thoughts?

Hi all.

I was bored the other day, so I phoned several indoor pools in our area.

1. It's about a 50/50 split here between pools that have family change rooms and those that don't.

2. Of the pools that have family change rooms here, most have individual rooms contained within.

3. Of those that have individual rooms within the family change room, most have showers inside the little room; the others have a communal shower room where virtually nobody goes nude.

4. One pool has a family change room, but it's just a large room with lockers and a large communal shower area. According to the lifeguard I spoke with, some people wait until nobody else is in the room before using it while others don't really care. Of those that use the room, about half shower nude. This pool is doing renovations this fall to put in individual rooms within the family change room.

5. Of the pools that do not have family change rooms, the age limits for children being allowed in either change room vary. A few pools drew the line at 6, a couple at 7, and a few at 8. One of the pools that had the line at 6 said they're very relaxed on the rule and basically allow whatever the parents are comfortable with (up to age 8). One of the pools that draws the line at 8 said it's usually alright for 9 year olds to go in as well.

6. Two of the pools that I talked to had mandatory nude showers before swimming. One of these pools doesn't have family change rooms and allows children of up to age 8 (and sometimes 9) into either change room. They only have group shower rooms (no stalls). According to the person I talked to, they have a lot of families and are extremely busy.

Obviously the rules are all over the map even within the same geographical area.

Any children going to the pool mentioned in point 6 will most certainly be showering nude with other kids their age that are the opposite sex. This is up to age 9, apparently.

The question is: is it a problem for boys to be nude around girls their age, and vice versa?

What about the moral issues?

And what if a girl and a boy from the same class at school see each other in the showers?

Your thoughts?

Was that a one-time occurrence? Is that the only time something like that happened?

When I was a kid, it was pretty normal to see a girl in the change room. Probably almost every time I went swimming, there were girls in there--usually 6 or 7, sometimes 8 or 9 years old, I guess. It was unusual to see someone I knew though.

Skwirrel

========== In Reply To ========== It was the same when I was younger, there were no individual cubicles, just one big changing room.

Once when I was about 7 I had finished my swim and was naked in the changing room getting dried, when a girl who lived on my road came in with her dad. She saw me, and I was so embarrassed I could have died. (But the good part was that I then got to watch her getting changed into her costume, so I got my own back!)

When I was a boy, I used to swim with my dad at least a couple of times a week. It was loads of fun, and a good way to spend several hours without blowing a lot of money.

Back then (70s and early 80s), there was simply no such thing as a family change room. For that matter, there weren't any "changing cubicles" or anything either. I suppose someone could use a toilet stall, but I don't think anyone ever did that.

One Friday evening before public swim time, my dad and I were in the very busy locker room changing into our swimsuits. I was in grade 2, so was about 7 at the time. In walks a girl from my class at school, Lisa, with her older brother and her dad. She was acting a bit awkward for being in the men's change room and didn't notice me at first.

A girl in the men's change room wasn't at all unusual, and she certainly wasn't the only girl in there either. What was unusual was that we knew each other. I mean, she sat beside me every day. We also lived in the same townhouse complex, so sometimes walked to and from school together, and sometimes even played hide-and-seek, tag, and so on with a bunch of other kids in the neighborhood.

She noticed me just as she was about to take her shirt off. She whined to her dad that there was a boy from her class here, and he just told her to “get over it and hurry up.” She looked away from me and tried to change out of her clothes and into her one-piece suit quickly.

Along with her brother, we ended up playing around on the diving boards together for a couple of hours that evening, and any original awkwardness was forgotten.

After swimming was over we went to the change room, along with our dads. My dad was "old school" and really believed in having a full shower after swimming, with soap and shampoo, and no swimsuit. This same shower requirement was for me too--showering with my suit on was simply not an option. I was pretty used to it by this time because of all the swimming I did with him. In fact, back then most people had nude showers after swimming anyways, so it was no big deal.

Still, it was a little awkward when I had to take my swimsuit off in front of my female classmate who was standing at the shower to my right. The shower room was a large well-lit room with multiple shower heads along the wall; no shower stalls or curtains anywhere. While their dad was getting something from his locker, my friend and her brother were rinsing off in the shower, but had their swimsuits on. When their dad came back with the soap and shampoo, he told them both sternly to "smarten up." With that, they both took their suits off and also had a shower with soap and shampoo.

I remember thinking how weird this was that I was naked and standing in the shower beside a girl from my class, who was also naked. By this point, neither of us bothered trying to cover up though--it would have been pointless considering it takes two hands to wash our hair, etc. By this point, we were beyond any discomfort with our nakedness and were more focused on keeping shampoo out of our eyes.

After several minutes in the shower, we toweled off together and walked back to our lockers wrapped in our towels for warmth while carrying our wet swimsuits. We continued our conversations while we changed combed our hair and changed into our clothes.

We walked to school together on Monday morning, and promised not to tell anyone at school about swimming and neither of us did.

I saw Lisa with her brother and dad at the pool every couple of weeks over the next couple of years. Up until she turned nine, her dad always brought her into the men's change room with her brother. We were never shy around each other after that first time, and always made a point of getting lockers beside each other.

Overall, I think it was a positive experience for both of us. To this day, I believe that children have far fewer hangups about nudity than adults.

Has anyone else had similar experiences?