Can I jump in now?

Do your teenagers love to get wet fully clothed? Then these pages are for you, with advice from fellow parents on how to cope.

At wet events you may ask why they jump into the water with all their clothes on? Someone says: "That's what I always wanted to do!"

To try something unusual is in the nature of young people. Most kids enjoy swimming in clothes a lot. Teenagers love it even more. For them it is great fun and there is really no reason to forbid such a harmless hobby.

Given non-restrictive parents, a digging tool, an area of dirt, and a supply of water, even the youngest children find hours of fun in returning to nature by digging in the dirt, making holes, filling them with water, creating mud of various consistencies, and ultimately wearing as much of this creation as possible.

Born Swimmers

Most children who are given the opportunity to swim as babies take to water quite naturally. We all have loved the sensation of being wet, the question is, what were you raised to think of as "appropriate" means of getting wet? Did your parents only ever let you experience water other than while in a bath or in a swimsuit playing in the pool or hose? Social norms got in the way, something we all face in a variety of life situations.

Playful Parents

Some parents, the playful type, might have squirted their kids while washing the car (one of my fav's) but many never dream of getting wet themselves, or of allowing their kids who've been dressed up so nicely to 'ruin' their good clothes and shoes.

Many posts on the community boards here at WackyWet share accounts of parents who really get upset over wet clothes, but only a few about parents who encourage wet-clothed, messy, or muddy fun.

Relax

There can be fewer natural, healthy, and for some, modest expressions of fun and joy than to get wet wearing clothes. Kids, especially very young ones, don't have any natural resistance to playing in water and mud, and attire never stops them. Whether in swimsuit or Sunday Suit, kids are drawn to water and mud.

Therefore, to keep 'Billy' from messing up his expensive stuff, make sure you give him clear boundaries and designate 'play' clothes from 'dress' clothes. Make sure you have at least one spare pair of shoes, if not a few. Don't throw out the ones that are a little tight, they still work for wet/muddy play. I tell my son, you can get wet in any of these clothes, but save these for church. Having the freedom to get wet in some clothes will make it easier to stay dry in the good stuff.

Drop Your Guard A Little Bit

Determining what battles to fight has always been a parent's challenge - Clean your room, get up on time, eat your veggies, and the list goes on. WHY fight another? Do you have a boy or girl that enjoys water, dirt, and/or their natural scientific combination, mud? If so, count your blessings. Kids have such a natural tendency to rebel or push the limits with their parents, it's important to choose which areas you'll give no ground in, like smoking, drugs, or alcohol. Some activities, even IF it means more work for you, should be an area of pleasant agreement.

The nature of many kids is such that they will push even harder to do that which they "should not" just because it's in their genes to do so, therefore, if you remove water, dirt, and mud play from this list, you then demonstrate that you are NOT just someone who says NO all the time, you can even improve your position by joining in or at least creating the conditions for wet play by trying one of my many suggestions for wet outings with your child (see examples below).

Be Smart

If you remove the stigma of 'trouble' from wet play, and encourage it in your kids, you remove a real danger point, for then they will not fear including you in their wishes and desires for wet play, and as long as they can get wet, you are then free to establish safe guidelines.

As an example, by the time I was eight, I had decided that wading in creeks was about the best fun a boy could have. I loved playing in the hose and swimming, but I rarely thought about doing that with clothes on. What I WANTED to do was wade into creeks, feel the water in my shoes and socks, then cover my clothing. I constantly imagined myself as an army guy wading through streams neck deep looking for the enemy. Did I ever tell my folks that I was going down to the creek to play? No way, they forbid it, and in some ways, that was wise.

Snakes were common in East Texas where I grew up, some quite poisonous. This never stopped me. As I got a little older I expanded my methods for getting wet, and yet it was all shrouded from my parents, or so I thought. My point is, that if you say "no" to your water-loving child, there's a good chance he'll find a way to do this without your knowledge, and possibly in a much less safe way.

Truth be told, I agree fully that a child should respect parent's rules and live with the consequences, even the unreasonable ones, but for some kids, that isn't much of a deterrent. Eventually, by age 13, my folks figured out I was always going to get wet, and decided to teach me how to care for my wet clothes, and as long as I didn't leave them a mess, I was now free to get wet and muddy as much as I wanted. This was a good thing, but it came far too late for me, and left me in a mindset to hide it nonetheless, and I continued to go unsafe places for my wet pleasures.


It's just simple fun !

Text by "BigWetKid", a wet fun parent in his forties.