One thing that makes this whole issue more complicated is that, in the U.S. at least, fewer and fewer women are getting married, or marrying later in life, and the birth rate is seriously trending down. So, is aiming at families, which is good, aiming at a shrinking target?

Maybe an additional approach, not to exclude others, is to somehow campaign aimed at unmarried girlfriends coming to a naturalist venue together. Create incentives for that. 

By way of contrast, in my humble opinion, the U.S. public schools encouraging kids to become transexuals without parental notice or permission is a hugely greater risk to kids, than involving kids with parent(s) in the nudist experience. Once a kid is exposed to nudism, he/she sees the real differences in the genders and who he/she can identify with. The child sees men and women happily interacting with each other. 

Thanks for that Steve an interesting point. Though even at approx 50/50 that is still a lot of women with children. And I feel it should be considered that many of those women without children will still feel safer being part of a naturism that encourages families than a naturism that is adult only. Another statistic shows that 80+% of households in the US have people under 18 living in them, so families are still the majority.

Even if families are a shrinking market we need to ensure naturism stays suitable for all. We shouldn't be aiming naturism purely at families, we should aim it at everyone, which should include families. If naturism is to stay a non-sexual life choice it has to be aimed universdally to all. 

In our latest 12 Days article Our Naturist World Awareness Day  Part 2 https://anaturistworld.com/article/our-naturist-world-awareness-day-part-2 we talk about naturism being about recognising that natural and connecting to nature and human nature. The argumemnt is that there is nothing more natural than being part of a family. Naturism is based on the natural, so should it be fully embracing families. 

Consider NKD in the UK. This was once proudly aimed at being the flagship event in the UK for families. Back in 2019 NKD was being described thus: "NKD is a clothes free festival designed for youth and families" when we went in 2022 they claimed more families had taken part than ever before. 

Search the internet in 2026 and the invitation to families is no where to be seen. "NKD is a boutique four-day festival designed for youth and younger Naturists."
The price list details 18-34, 35-50 and 50 and over. Could it be that under 18 are free? Maybe but it simply doesn't mention them at all. Could it be that hidden within the member only area there is talk of families? I hope there is, as it would be very sad to think children are no longer invited at all. But hiding it does several things - it makes it seem like it is adult only, it continues to create an illusion that naturism is adult only, it does nothing to promote naturism to families, it does nothing to encourage non-naturist families to consider naturism as a choice, or believe there may be experiences available to them, it presents a myth that naturism may be sexualised/seedy/pesty which in turn puts off couples, men and women  who may not have children but want something that is safe and suitable, it builds on the myth that we shouldn't mention children and families, that families should feel almost wrong to exist and hide away with guilty shame, and it encourages more venues, events and locations to go family free, it allows the event to eventually become adult only (if it isn't already) without anyone being particularly aware and questioning it, it encourages those who are against naturism to continue to question its appropriateness for families (be proud not shameful and do not give pause for questioning) and basically hammers home another nail into the naturist coffin. The event may still welcome families and it may still be very popular but the bigger picture of hiding families is ultimately self destructive - and not just for the event, but for naturism in the UK, and therefore for naturism everywhere. As each little negative thing we do has ripples of effects through naturism and how it is judged and how it continues to grow or decline. 

This is just one event. Take this and spread it out over various countries, events and venues and we are in serious danger of destroying naturism from within. We chose how we promote naturism and who we sell it too, and we have to ensure that the message we send out is the right one. We have to be morally responsible to protect the future of naturism and grow it with genuine respect. Events like NKD may have good intentions, but if those intentions are not obvious, and the message is misleading, then the intentions are meaningless. 

We know, through quiet word of mouth, that some caring people attempted to offer organised naturist gatherings for families in 2025, (how many, how successful and where and when remains a mystery), this should not be something  that we find out about through third party rumours. If these things are hidden away and only promoted to a small group of families hidden behind national body member paywalls how will they ever grow? How will they ever encourage more families to connect to naturism? Why would any family buy into a national body with the hope of finding little family events that may or may not exist? 

Naturism is acting like it is ashamed of families. The opposite should be true. If we act like naturism is something that is a little dubious, it will become something that is a little dubious, and then it will become something that is very dubious. Naturist have to take control of this now before it is too late.    

Isn’t it odd, that as a family back in 2022 we looked at our national organisation with a view to booking their family themed weekend event NKD, because we really wanted our national organisation to help connect us with other families within naturist circles. NKD was the jewel in BN crown, a whole weekend dedicated to families where naturist parents could meet and talk family naturism, as their children ran around with other naturist kids having the time of their lives.

We are huge supporters of family naturism, we have been very vocal in our view that national organisations all over the world should be doing more to protect the innocence of children and campaigning to help educate those nay sayers in the dressed world who wrongly accuse naturism of allowing children the freedom to be their own individual naked selves.

In 2023 we took on the role of organisers for what was meant to be a founding of a new Naturist Society in North Wales UK. The very first thing we did as organisers was put our money where our mouth was, and make it family friendly. The second thing we did, was to appoint our own daughter who was 14 at the time, the representative for children under 18 as part of the team to run the event. The kids had someone they could relate to, and we showed every parent that came to our events, that we took children seriously within naturism, and it paid off, because the adults were really impressed to see a junior organiser working side by side with the other organisers throughout our whole year events.

We felt then, and still feel now, that it is a direction that all national organisations should be taking, so you can imagine how disappointed we are to see that the 2026 NKD, as advertised in weekly newsletter by our national organisation, has advertised this years NKD event as a “A high energy festival for naturists aged 18 to 50 years old.”

This yet again is another signal on how organised naturism is trying to push children out of naturism for good, and it is disgraceful behaviour. The title of this forum thread is, “Does naturism actually want families?” Currently, we have no option but to agree with Anna above, because it is now looking like the answer is a resounding…. NO!

The problem as I see it is that if this continues to go unchecked it will alter the very fabric of naturism. Changing who is interested, why they do it, how the public perceive it and the very nature of what naturism is. 

I do not think the long term effects of gradually allowing naturism to become adult only can be under estimated. I see why it is happening - social media pressure to dissociate children from nudity - but rather than this being handled with care and pride naturism has simple behaved in a way that they agree, and seemingly put profit over philosophy. 

This topic is at the core of whether or not naturism has a positive future - or whether it is allowed to be reinvented in the eyes of the public to become something akin to soft core swinging. 

If you look at any creed or culture today or through time, they all share one thing in common. Regardless of different political leaning or cultural ideologies, all of them placed a huge amount of value on children. The birth of a child is universally celebrated by everyone, and every culture has its own ways and rituals of encouraging the creation of families for the purpose of bringing more children into the world, in order to continue the race. Children are at the heart of everything, even naturism was once focused solely on bringing children up within the heart of the community, in order to ensure future success, as a continuation of clubs and societies. Children are the life blood of any future for everything, without them there is no future, and any organisation choosing to replace children with other appealing attractions is doomed to failure.

In recent times, certainly since 2020, we have seen a global shift in attitudes towards children, and today it appears like one half of society is hell bent on sexualising children, whilst the other is focused on squeezing them out for the sake of adult entertainment, and it is becoming a very worrying trend.

The latest move by British Naturism to promote it’s flag ship May event for families, NKD as a high energy festival for naturists aged 18 to 50, feels like the biggest nail in the coffin for families withing naturism. British Naturism, has in the past been a leading light in global naturism, and has to a degree set many of the trends that have helped drive naturism around the globe forward, which makes what we see as a betrayal of naturism families even more painful. When an organisation with over 60 years of established naturist culture turns its back on families in such a public way, it sets an example that will send ripples around the world. For example, take the USA, a country crippled by social media addiction, that is already struggling under huge pressures created by the social media narrative of shaming nudity in adults let alone families, which has always looked to the UK for inspiration and examples it can use to push back and foster a culture of family naturism, can they survive the impact of such anti family example set by Britain?

As past attendees of festivals such as Glastonbury, Monsters of rock, Download and even the Reading Festival, we understand the appeal of music, and fun, and yes there is no secret in the facts there are good profits to be made. We can only ask, is the allure of festivals more appealing in naturism, lets be honest, the naked experience of Glastonbury has got to be far better, and actually, it is, we know from personal experience. Branding something fun, and high energy is all well and good, but honestly, is it going to appeal on mass and convert enough late teenager textiles numbers cancel their pop festival and go to a naked one organised by BN? We think not, especially when you consider that the mainstream festivals are attracting the worlds greatest musicians and bands such as Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Blackpink.

Let’s be very real here in our goals, the slow decay of NKD and its conversion into an 18+ is driven more out of the facts that naturism has been hiding its kids from the dressed world since BN were attacked by protestors back in 2019/20, and as a result naturism has been running scared since slowly making the push towards adult only, and this new move towards a more funky 18+ has taken the heat off naturism which has by the look of things decided to play it safe and convert the event to a more profitable model. It reeks of “If we cannot sell families out of fear of reprisal, we will sell parties for adults.” We cannot deny, from a business point of view it works on paper, after all, young people have more disposable income now than ever before, and don’t they just love to party and spend?

But where does that leave families, the once considered beating heart of naturism?

As much as we do not want to admit it, we have to state the obvious, because we do think BN has lost focus on what is the single most important question surrounding this issue. Firstly, they have an identical event every year right in the middle of the children’s school summer holidays which 18+ and aimed at the young. It is called EveryBody, and has been running for the last three years. Admittedly it has not been as successful as NKD in its start up years, but BN do appear to be doing their best to build it up. It does beg the question though, will the new hip and funky adult NKD impact EveryBody? This is festival season after all, so will young people who are not normally naked, pay for two naked festivals when they can go and see a world leading band at any of the many large scale festivals now held in the UK each year?

For arguments sake, let’s say they do, let’s pretend that a teenager aged 19 to 20, who is riddled with all the body negative issues from social media, decides they want to be brave and try being naked for a long weekend, and books into NKD. Let’s pretend they meet someone and have a blast, as they sip their beer and dance naked covered in body paint. Let’s say, they get on like a house on fire with this other person, so they arrange to meet after the event and a naturism loving couple is born. For a couple of years, they attend naturist events and have the time of their lives, they marry, and life within naturism is blooming.

Then they have a child…. What then?

Sorry, our events are adult only, and you now have a young child.

You think this is fantasy…. Its not, it is actually the story of most young naturist couples currently.

This was not an issue 30 years ago, because naturism embraced young families, and fostered a policy of encouragement of the young. Today, the current pattern within naturism in the UK, which is slowly going adult only has nothing to help a young couple stay within naturism, apart from the occasional weekends organised by the larger clubs. BN has Sunfolk it’s newly restored centre for naturism, and its new headquarters, but it can be anything up to five hours drive if you live in the north, and honestly, with kids, that is not always as easy as it may sound, especially if it for one weekend.

Families with kids struggle in naturism, even when events are provided, because the rising costs of each event becomes more prohibitive, and the larger the family, the more expensive it is to attend. Encouraging families to all events is vastly important, because if couples like us have no means to connect with other families, it gets harder and harder to help your kids defeat the social media narrative of body negativity and a blanket ban on naked bodies. We well know what that is like, we have lost our son to social media thinking having raised him a naturist, and some of that can be attributed to the fact that he had no living example to follow, because there was nothing at the that time regular enough and affordable enough for us to take him to meet other naturists. How many other families will lose their kids from naturism like we have?

The new direction of BN will impact and influence the rest of the world as it has in the past, which is why we must do more to help families survive what is quickly becoming a wall of ignorance that is hiding families from access to naturism. If we stand back and stay silent then we become complicit with those who wish to push a party narrative whilst secretly pushing children out of naturism, and we continue on this current path ignoring the precedents set with naturism for the last 100+ years, then there is no doubt in our minds that naturism will not survive another fifty, let alone another 100.

Naturism needs the young families, and any other opinion that say different, is simply blind stupidity, that will destroy everything that has built to date. A child has far more value, than a quick buck from an adult only event.