It is interesting to see what traits of yours show up in your kids. Will they have blue eyes? Will they like mushrooms? Will they like sports? Things like eye color you find out pretty quickly, while others take years. As soon as my daughter turned two she started taking after me in her hatred of pants.
It started with her being able to zip and unzip her own jammies. After getting her diaper changed she’d ask to zip them back up herself. It wasn’t long until she realized that the skills needed to zip up are remarkably similar to those needed to zip down, and her legs were suddenly free. Every time we’d put her to bed in zip-up jammies we would find her in only a diaper in the morning, greeting us with an enthusiastic “I’m naked!”
At first we thought it was the novelty of her newfound mastery of the zipper that encouraged her to take off her jammies, and we started putting her to bed in two-piece shirt and pants style jammies. It was quickly confirmed that it was not the zipper. She had experienced the unencumbered freedom of sleeping without pants and there will be no going back. Every night and every nap time for the last few weeks she ditches the pants within minutes of getting put down. I couldn’t be prouder.
It took me into my twenties before I freed myself from the confines of pajamas, and this little smarty no-pants has figured it out in two years. At first I was a little worried that is would become an all day thing. Kids will be kids, but it would be strange for her to develop the habit of depantsing to go on the swings. Though now that I mention it, that sounds absolutely fantastic. So fill that scenario in with some other odd place to not have pants. Anyway, she has kept her pants-free lifestyle to sleeping only. Not once has she even tried to take them off anywhere else. She understands the joy of an unrestrained lower half and the importance of boundaries. How soon can you test for Mensa?
The majority of parenting is telling your kids not to do stuff, but this is one behavior I will certainly encourage. I have the chance to develop a trait of mine that has manifested in my child, I can’t pass this up. This must have been what Ken Griffey Sr. felt like the first time he watched his kid take batting practice. When it comes to hating pants, my girl is a natural.
The only obstacle I can see coming is nap time at school. Then again, every class has a little kid that shows his butt, so is a sans pants nap time any worse? I don’t think so. Compared to kid who shows their butt, kid who picks their nose, or kid who eats glue, being the kid who understands the proper way to sleep isn’t a bad thing to be at all. Class role model if you ask me.
I Think Therefore I Dad 