Is it OK for a mum to share a shower with teenage kids?

Yes, I know that there are people that will say it depends on the culture (nudist, Japanese, Scandinavian and Finnish, Russian, etc.), but here’s my take on why it should not be okay.

1. It’s a door that a sexual predator can exploit. If mostly everyone in a certain culture is pressured into accepting this as okay, those who aren’t okay with it (especially those growing up in the culture) will have added and unnecessary difficulty in reporting inappropriate behavior (i.e., “everyone else is doing it” peer pressure).
2. It prevents adolescents from establishing healthy boundaries. Kids at that age are starting to separate from their parents and establish their own, future adult identities. Imagine how much harder that would be having your own parents [1] jumping in the shower with you and [2] dismissing your objections. (“I’ve seen everything you’ve got already, anyway. Don’t worry about it.” “What’s the big deal, anyway?” “Relax, it’s part of our culture.”) Non-abusive parents might not mean anything by it, but all parents aren’t non-abusive. Sexually predatory parents will take advantage and will have a ready made alibi to dismiss abused children’s disclosures of/objections toward sexual predation and abuse. Therefore, why not close that door (literally and metaphorically) so that the power imbalance between parents/older siblings/adult relatives and children can’t be exploited, at least in this fashion? Leave the public bathing choices for adults only.

As children, my siblings and I would take group baths together and think nothing of it. One day, in my preteen years, I was taking a shower by myself. My sister, without warning, jumped in the shower with me. That day, it was no longer okay with me and that is the last group bath/shower I ever took with my siblings. Imagine how much more difficult it would be for me to establish that boundary with a parent that felt it was okay to “encourage” me to accept something I was no longer comfortable with.