The topic of thongs at family-friendly beaches comes up fairly often, especially as people flock to them in the summertime. I always encourage everyone to do what feels comfortable to them, which is a highly personal decision. Some avoid thong swimsuits altogether, others seek out quieter areas away from families, and many wear thongs while spending time at the beach with their own families.
So what exactly is a “family-friendly” beach? There’s no strict definition, but for the sake of discussion, I’d say it’s a beach that:
Is easily accessible (e.g., nearby parking, no long or difficult walk)
Has restrooms
May be staffed (e.g., lifeguards)
May have facilities specifically for children (e.g., a playground)
Beaches that require a hike to access or lack basic amenities tend to attract fewer families. Not none, but those types of beaches often have a noticeably different atmosphere. I’m sure it varies by location, but you probably have a sense of which local beaches are most popular with families.
How do you feel about wearing thong swimsuits at family-friendly beaches?
Personally, I’m okay with it, especially if women are wearing thongs, but I typically try not to set-up right next to a family with kids.
With that said, in the past few weeks I’ve had at least two different families with babies and kids age 8-12isg set up their umbrella, towels etc within 15-20 feet of me after I had already been on the beach for an hour or two. I know they both saw me before they set down their stuff so perhaps it wasn’t a big deal for them or more likely, the felt like that was one of the only available spots on the beach? Who knows.
I use to worry about being on a “family friendly” beach and wearing a thong, but the number of times families have set up right beside me when I was there first got me over it. I’ll wear a thong instead of a g-string, but in general, I believe people truly don’t care … not saying you aren’t going to run into a Karen from time to time, but most people are at the beach to enjoy the day just like you and could care less.
I setup in a somewhat secluded part of the beach, but it can also fill in with families. When I see them approach my area I’ll purposely stroll just so they see there are people in the area in thongs. If they setup by me I don’t mind because I had families see my thong and said nothing and later in the day exchanged greetings. It used to bother me being around families but not anymore. Now I don’t go to the crowded part of the beach, I figure if they are willing to take the extra hike to get to more quiet part of the beach they also know they will see other people on the beach in thongs/g-strings.
I had two couples walking up the beach, I just had a feeling they were out of town. As they passed me, one lady looked back to see if she really was seeing a guy in a thong.
My local beach is quite long, over a mile, and has entrances every 100 yards for the length of the beach. The many families with kids usually stay within the first 25 yards of each entrance. This leaves about 50 yards between each pair of entrances where there are not families with kids, and that’s where all the women wearing thongs park themselves.
There were at least 8 or 10 women in thongs within 30 feet of where I set my towel today. There was a lifeguard walking back-and-forth along the beach and I did wonder if he was going to “pull me over“ when I was in the water but nope. He either didn’t care or realized that he would have a hard time making a case when there were a half dozen women in thongs within 50 feet of me.
@cambridgeguy … every time the wife and I hit the beach she gets to hear me say, “let’s walk down there. People dragging kids along won’t want to walk that far.”
