I defy anyone to say they wouldn't care if it happened to their child or any other child they know or care about just because "it doesn't have any impact on the child."
Whilst I agree with other posters about letting children be free to be children etc - and which should be the case wherever they maybe not just in Switzerland - let's not be kidding ourselves that there are no dangerous, perverted or criminally minded people out there with respect to children in Switzerland.
They exist in all societies and maybe it's because it would be that much harder to get away with it here than in other countries, is what stops many of them from actually committing such crimes...
I don't think you can generalize on something like this. It depends on the circumstances. Here, for example, the OP said there were two or three teachers supervising the children which I would have thought was enough to ensure their safety and protection.
Now, there will be some parents will object under any circumstances, for a whole variety of reasons. That's a different matter and I think their wishes should be respected. Not all people think alike. But I don't think that's grounds to condemn the teachers. Let's not try and imply there was anything sinister going on here.
Living in a different country expose you and your family to different customs, values and attitudes. It doesn't mean those are wrong just because they don't happen to jive with your own. If parents want their children to be treated differently, then they should discuss this with the school.
One thing is to have a kiddo stripped on a beach, another is to have the entire class naked. I have an extremely private child, despite of her having pretty hippie and lax parents, I know she would have felt traumatized if she had to strip naked around her classmates, teachers, and strangers in a public place, and I would respect her feelings and wouldn't want her feeling awkward. That said, she would have no trouble playing naked in waves in the sea with us around, etc. So, to generalize is pointless, and, to push the entire class to strip is rather strange. I wish people were a bit more laxed when we hang out, in terms of having little kids run naked on a pool site or lake, etc. But it's not happening here.
The fact things feel safe does not mean mean people do not have urges. The urges will be same as any other culture. Ant that's enough, I don't needs stats on safety. It's safe back at home yet I still feel like there is no reason to let your guard down because people over do the paranoia in the anglophone world. The fact things might not get reported as thouroughly as back home does not mean things are safer here. It's the same with bullying/mobbing. It exists, yet things used to be reported seldomly. Things are changing.
I don't want them to change in a way that we become paranoid and our kids have no childhood. But I would rather have my kiddo naked with me, or her best friend in their garden, rather than the entire class in a park. Kids should not be exposed to direct sun, and entire bodies, between what was it 10-4pm, either. Just check out your local Krebsleague info. CH has 40x more skin cancer that Aus, last time I checked, and that's sumfin. Having kids run naked would just be over the top and the teachers would have heard from me, knowing the nature of my child and her attitude to personal privacy and issues with sun exposure.
Well I reackon that a few strokes of the rattan to the offending teachers will sort them out for sure, thats a much more civilised and better example for our kids than lettng them run around naked on a hot, muggy day.
Come on Singorchid, you are over reacting - I am guessing by your nickname that you're from Singers right? What exactly are you taking issue with? The fact that kids are naked in public and that an opportunistic paedophile will happen to pass by, take pictures of those kids for his pervy pleasure? Or the modesty part where kids are running around with their bits hanging out?
This is German territory where sun bathing naked and letting your weiners hang out is ok.
Or a better example: back home, go to Vivocity on weekends and you'll see kids playing around the fountain naked with their parents sitting around nonchantly.
You're probably one of those who will throw a fit if the teacher takes the kids out for a boat trip without letting you sign a permission slip.
Best to get used to how things work here - you are no longer in the land of nannying, where kids WALK TO SCHOOL themselves (cue shock horror!!), no domestic helpers, the gah-men doesnt do everything for you, and *gasp* people are capable of independence and a certain amount of autonomy.
In my opinion ... teachers making children run around naked = not ok. Teachers letting children run around naked in suitable places such as a park = ok.
If you don't like the idea that your child, dressed, could be running around with other children, undressed, then you should consider private schooling.
Ah, a discussion over the most beautiful creation of them all: the naked human body.
When I invited an American friend to come and visit, her reaction to a gigantic NIVEA deo-spray poster (which I hadn't even noticed) was:
"O...M...G... You have a NAKED BREAST ON A 2 METERS HIGH POSTER. As a commercial do DEO??????????"
Nothing takes away those happy days of my childhood when I was allowed to play around on the beach without a swim suit: because I was innocent enough to not have been yet brainwashed with the reasoning of guilt our "evolved western society" likes to preach.
My parents made a lot of pictures of me naked on the beach. Every single boyfriend I introduced to my parents got to see them. So did all male and female friends of my parents. And guess what? There's nothing to be ashamed of a picture of a naked 4 year old playing with sea shells. It doesn't invite pedophiles anymore than a short skirt invites rappists.
Let the children enjoy their body freedom for as long as they can. They will be feeling guilty of their own bodies as soon as they hit puberty (and they get decorum brainwashed) till the day they die.
Paedophiles will still snap pictures regardless of whether its the parents or teachers watching over them. No?
Thats why I dont understand her issue. If she is that paranoid, best to chain the kids by yourside 24/7. And if she has an issue with teachers being given so much autonomy, such activities of letting the children run free in the park naked to cool off, write a letter to the school and have her poor kid sit by the teachers looking on whistfully whilst the other kids are enjoying themselves.
And I am one of those old school teachers who demand parents being informed on where their kids happen to be, what they will be doing.
I think if I was to take a bunch of preschoolers to the park, I would make sure the parents do not mind having their kids naked in public. That would be the procedure, with little kids, and in the area that is more multicultural than anywhere else I have been here. Maybe the teachers do that there. Our creche would never do it and I see their point, despite being a closet nudist myself.
so, after all these comments you got whats going on, right?
the hippies who brought up this change were fighting an uphill battle against the contemporary culture, and look what happened! you can only imagine what will it look like 30 yrs from now...
Maybe the teacher DID write a letter to all parents of that group saying that they will be bringing the children to the Chinagarten that very day, and to pack appropriate clothing if they wish - and most parents passed?
So many maybes. We dont know how the school functions.
Meh. I simply just dont see the big fuss/outrage made over a group of naked children running in the park.
It is changing. This kind of parents are now majority. To me, it is neither a bad nor a good news, it's just an evolution that means more paperwork for teachers. Is that paperwork worth it? Sometimes, definitely yes! Othertimes, it is not. Consequence: majority of parents don't trust school, majority of teachers don't trust parents. To me, loosing trust is loosing a good thing, but maybe it's just me - I go by the school policy anyway.
From my experience, and that only, so maybe yours is totally different, there are less days out in middle and high-schools than in the 90ies. I can even see a trend in the last ten years: teachers just don't even plan field trips anymore if it is not a whole school "my-director-backs-me-up" situation. Parents want their children to be absolutely safe in school, teachers want to be safe at their work place. Fair enough.