Social norms and vanity are not developed yet in preschoolers. They’ll happily eat ice cream and get chocolate all over their face. Or talk to you with a booger hanging out of their nose, without being self conscious.
Yesterday, my son, being very independent, announced he was going upstairs to put on his pajamas. Great, I thought. It was a little early for bed, but it’ll save time later, right? After ten minutes I went to see what was taking so long because I didn’t hear any noise (quiet is usually a sure sign of trouble). There he was, playing quietly and reading a book. Oh, and he was buck naked. Very matter of fact, he just didn’t feel like wearing clothes. It turns out it isn’t easy to explain to a preschooler why he needs to wear clothes. Hopefully, I won’t have to explain it to the strangers at the mall when he decides to strip down there.