Captain Jelly Belly is a boy who is very comfortable being buck naked.

Maybe a little too comfortable.

When our kids were born, we decided we wanted to raise them with healthy body images. We didn’t want them to feel ashamed or embarrassed about any bodily functions. We made sure they knew the proper names for all their parts. I must say I never knew I’d be so comfortable using the word “penis” in every day conversation. I’m also not shy around the word “testicles,” although recently the Captain has become infatuated with the word “balls” instead, which does give me pause. I really hope he doesn’t pull that one out of the bag when we are visiting my mother-in-law in a few weeks.

When it’s time to get dressed or have a bath or just for no reason at all, the Captain likes to chuck his clothes and run around in the buff. We’re pretty cool with it; we figure he’ll develop a natural sense of privacy as he ages, and eventually he’ll figure out that the bathroom has a lock on it for a reason.

My point here is to say that Gal Smiley, as a result, is actually quite familiar with male genitalia. Up until the Captain turned five a few months ago, they used to bath together. Now I make them bath separately, because it seems like Captain Jelly Belly should be moving to an age when he has a little private time, but Gal Smiley usually still gets an eyeful when the Captain is shamelessly dancing about completely nude while his bath water runs. Which I guess defeats the purpose, but whatever, we’re getting there. A new day of modesty beckons!

The other day the kids were in the backyard playing in our wading pool in bathing suits, and Princess Charming, who lives behind us and is the same age as Gal Smiley, came on over. She’s an only child. When the kids started to get cold I told the Captain and Gal Smiley that it was time to get dressed, and within three seconds, the Captain had stripped off his suit and was running around the yard with everything hanging out. I rushed to get him wrapped in a towel and sent him inside to get dressed, and then he got a lecture about how the whole neighbourhood does not have any desire to see his penis. Or his balls.

It wasn’t until later that it occurred to me that it might have been the first time that Princess Charming had ever seen a penis. Oops! Come on over for a swim, emotional trauma thrown in for free! I hope it wasn’t an incident that is going to haunt her in therapy in the years to come. I feel like I should apologize to Queen Charming, but I’m not sure what to say. We’re just so used to seeing it, it didn’t seem like a big deal to us, but I’m guessing it was kind of a big deal to the Princess.

I imagine Queen Charming probably had some very interesting questions to answer on the way home.

We’re getting out the pool again today, so it seems like it’s time to usher in that age of modesty a wee bit faster!