Spring Lake Cops Chastise Parent Cleaning Sand Off His Naked Toddlers – Is it OK to Change Kids’ Clothes at the Shore? [POLL]

This is one of the many dilemmas we live with in 2013.

At one time it would not have been a big deal to change your kids out of wet, sandy clothes at the beach exposing them naked for even a few seconds.

Not so much today.

Now you have to concern yourself with either some pervert taking a picture of them naked; or worse, having a cop come by and chastise you for exposing your kids.

I was concerned about this last week when we took my grandson to the spray-ground at Dorbrook Park in Colts Neck. He needed to be changed, and my wife wanted to put a towel around him off in a corner of the spray area.

I said, “no good…we’d be better off taking him up the hill to the restroom and change him there. What if he gets out of the towel? You can’t have him running around bare-ass!”

My wife thought I was nuts but relented.

Fast forward to a couple of days ago. The same happened to Trentonian columnist Jeff Edelstein at the beach at Spring Lake.

There he was, after a fine day at the shore with his wife and kids, about to change them into some clean clothes, when the beach supervisor called police to report that his toddlers were naked.

According to this:

The borough’s beaches are no place for public nudity – even if you haven’t entered kindergarten yet.

Jeff Edelstein took his story to Fox News’s Fox and Friends program Tuesday morning after Spring Lake Police responded to a call that his two-year-old and four-year-old children were nude at the beach.

Edelstein told Fox News that they were preparing to head home after a day at the beach by rinsing sand off their two children, taking the toddlers’ bathing suits off to make sure no sand remained.

At that time, Edelstein said he was approached by a borough official, who told them nudity was not permitted on the beach or boardwalk.

“It was the town’s beach supervisor, he started ranting and raving at me ‘you can’t do that! You can’t do that! Spring Lake’s not that kind of place,” Edelstein told Fox News’s Steve Doocy.

A police officer arrived moments later and gave the Edelsteins a verbal warning.

According to Spring Lake law, it is illegal to publically disrobe in the borough, punishable with a $2,000 fine and 90 days in jail.

Edelstein said earlier this week he will not return to Spring Lake.

I agree that this is one of those “letter of the law” vs. “spirit of the law” debates.

Did the cops overreact? I think they did, despite the borough ordinance against public nudity!

The broader question is whereas at one time it may have been totally innocent to change your kids’ clothes at the shore, exposing them for even a short time naked; can you do that today?

Not quite!

Is it ok to change your kids’ clothes on the beach exposing them even it is only for a few seconds?