Baby Wont Wear Clothes   by Kevin Hart

Most first time parents get a shock when at about fourteen months their darling decides they don't want to wear clothes! The first thing to realise is that there is nothing unusual about this it is just a small part of baby growing up.

Granted it can be quite embarrassing if you have guests around and baby decides to bear all! Embarrassing for you and the guest.

Don't get over excited and insist that baby wears his or her clothes ALL the time. No it is best if you set limits on when you will allow baby to un-cloth and when you will not all them to un-cloth. You are teaching baby a very important social norm at this point so be firm.

Once you have set your limits be firm, and enforce the rule. You may feel like screaming, but every time baby breaks the rules and starts to undress then redress him, again and again and again. Babies are not stupid and pretty soon they will get the message. Remember though babies are also great manipulators!

Think carefully about when you are going to let baby 'bear all.' Common sense will dictate that this is best done when there is little likelihood of traffic into and out of the home. Baby may not be embarrassed by his physique but others outside the family might feel uncomfortable with a naked baby running around them.

Because baby will feel less restricted without their clothes they will be rushing around that little bit more and are therefore more likely to get a knock on some of their more exposed areas.

When naked time is over a good way of getting your child to re-robe is to let him or her pick their own clothing you can do this by laying out a small selection of suitable clothing. Most babies enjoy this exercise and in the long run they become more interested in clothing and it may even help them get over their naked period.

I've watched parents visit their attitudes about their bodies onto their children. You are the biggest influence in your child's life and a little carelessness could make your child feel ashamed of his or her body.

Children have to explore in order to develop, and this is all part of that journey and with a little bit of though before hand you can let the child figure out that undressing in public is not right and this is much better than just telling them 'don't do that. That's bold.'

Baby is now busy exploring the world around them, educate them well and it will pay handsome rewards in the future

About the Author

Kevin Hart is a post-graduate student and former member of the Open University Senate. He writes on various family related topics. See what he has to say on babies at http://www.babies-worldwide.com/childrens_education.html