STANDING by the cooker, stirring a pan of boiling pasta, Lisa Stewart is stark naked.
It is just an ordinary day for the 40-year-old mum — much to the horror of her two girls Tia, 12, and Lily, eight.
After TV presenter Amanda Holden, who turned 50 last week, revealed she often walks around the house naked — annoying her children, Lexi, 14, and Hollie, eight — Lisa says: “Tia and Lily are for ever telling me to put some clothes on because it is ‘SO embarrassing!’
“So when I read about Amanda doing the same, it made me smile. It is nice to know I am not alone. I refuse to listen to the girls. I do the vacuuming, tidying and emptying the dishwasher completely starkers.
“The girls are more used to it now but that doesn’t stop them complaining. Lily cringes and rolls her eyes a lot. But as Tia is 12, she gets angry. She’s constantly throwing towels and T-shirts at me and telling me to ‘grow up and cover up’. I just smile and shake my head.”
The single mum, who runs a tanning business in Glasgow, believes it is her job to encourage her kids to love their bodies. That is why she has no qualms about them seeing her in her full glory.
She says: “I want to empower my girls to embrace their bodies and to show them it’s OK to have lumps and bumps, cellulite and dimpling. We don’t all look like the models and influencers they see on Instagram. And that’s absolutely fine. As a mother, it’s my job to help my kids learn to love themselves.”
Lisa has not always been so body-confident. As a teenager she was crippled with insecurities.
Labelled “Pancake Boobs”, she was mercilessly teased at school for her A-cup chest. My mum told me to ignore them but that was easier said than done,” says Lisa.
“I felt so ashamed of my body. I got changed under my clothes for PE and stuffed my bra with socks. I was sure I was ugly and totally undateable.”
After leaving school, Lisa began working in sales and settled down with a partner. But her self-esteem issues got worse after her children were born.
“I really struggled to shift the baby weight,” she says.
“After having Lily, I weighed 13st and was a size 14. I had always been around nine stone and a size eight or ten, so I felt frumpy and fat. It got so bad that I wouldn’t let my partner see me naked and I completely avoided my reflection in the mirror.”
Her confidence took another hit when she and her partner split — albeit amicably — seven years ago.
‘Girls beg me to at least put apron on’
She says: “It was the catalyst I needed to get in shape. So I started the Atkins Diet and began working out, as well as starting my own tanning business, Star Tanning.
“By 2017, I had lost almost four stone and was back down to nine. My body wasn’t perfect but along the way I’d started to appreciate it for the first time ever. I realised it didn’t matter if I had small boobs, stretch marks and loose skin. My body had grown two wonderful children.”
Making peace with these minor imperfections gave Lisa the confidence to start stripping off. She says: “When I began doing it, I would rush from the bathroom to my bedroom because I was embarrassed if the girls saw me. They were gobsmacked. They’d never really seen me naked before.
“But that emboldened me to do it more, as I realised I wanted them to have a much more comfortable relationship with their bodies than I ever did.”
As the months went by, Lisa began spending more time without clothes on. And now she does it most days.
“I sleep naked, so in the morning I’ll hop out of bed and go downstairs to make a cuppa in the nude,” she says.
“I also wander around naked after my shower and have no problem cooking without clothes — although the girls beg me to at least put an apron on.”
But pottering around in the buff is not without its risks. And Lisa always makes sure the curtains are drawn to avoid neighbours and passers-by getting an eyeful. She adds: “I also always keep a robe handy in case someone comes to the door unexpectedly.
“And the girls have made me swear I will never, ever do it when any of their friends are over — though of course I wouldn’t dream of it. Similarly, when they’re older and have boyfriends round, I’ll make sure I’m covered up. If I met a man who was shy about taking his clothes off, it would put me off them.
“I am so comfortable with my body it would be a big turn-off if he was prudish. I never explain myself to boyfriends either because being naked is natural to me and I am more adventurous in the bedroom because I don’t worry about my body being seen from certain angles. Men can take me or leave me and if one told me to cover up, it would cause a huge problem.”
For Lisa, the benefits of being naked far outweigh the downsides.
She says: “Being a girl in 2021 is terrifying. It was hard enough when I was a teenager but now girls are bombarded with filtered images of perfection on social media and told they have to look a certain way to be beautiful.
“I think more mums need to embrace being naked, whether we are as toned as Amanda Holden or not. Body dysmorphia is a growing problem among girls but we can show them what middle-aged women’s bodies really look like.
“I don’t want my daughters to be like me and waste 35 years feeling ugly and ashamed.
“If me being naked helps them love themselves, then what’s the harm in that?”
IS IT OK TO GO AROUND NUDE?
WHEN should you stop being naked in front of your kids? Parenting expert Emma Kenny writes:
The “correct” age of a child is subjective and individual experience is so important. Some children will be absolutely OK with a parent being naked, particularly if they have grown up with parents who have acted this way since they were young. Others will struggle with their parents’ nudity.
And while there is nothing wrong with wearing no clothes, a parent should always acknowledge a child’s distress and do their best to prevent it.
There has never been so much pressure on young people to look a certain way. They are constantly marketed-to through glossy adverts, overly edited images and influencers across all social media platforms pushing the idea of what a perfect body looks like.
Lisa is trying to change her personal understanding of her own body by learning to love the skin she is in.
Though her children might find her nakedness embarrassing, they are also being taught a very important lesson through Lisa – one that embraces an unapologetic and unashamedly positive relationship with the self.
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