The island their raised on is uninhabited, and stick to the shade probably. Remember mer children are about three when they're alowed out of the caves and three years later they make their coccon.
That doesn't explain why they don't burn. If you want to just not address it that is fine. I still don't understand how their skin can cope with all the damp in the caves ?
Have you ever worn a dress? It's heavy, potentially revealing, and restricting on the legs should running be required depending on the length and cut. Some women see skirts and dresses to be very uncomfortable in terms of moving freely, even though one might think that pants would chafe more. Lots of keeping legs crossing, sitting a certain way, and being careful on stairs to make sure no one can see up your dress. A girl or boy wearing such a getup after being used to nudity might create some social faux pas due to their lack of concern about revealing flesh to others due to body movement, etc.
V.C. Andrews wrote series of books that were usually about children raised in unusual/abusive circumstances, sometimes they were twins kept up in the attic or something, and there was usually some kind of weird sexual content.
So how might merfolk hand the coccon thing? So how might the kid's try to minimize the discomfort clothing gives them?
They'd likely rebel to clothes if clothes give them that much discomfort. But odds are, they'd adapt quickly unless you actually want their not liking clothes to be a major plot of the story. DO YOU? Is that what this story is about? Or is there something bigger at hand? Depending on what YOU want your story to be about, that will determine how much emphasis you want to place on these kids adapting to clothes. You can use it to make a big statement on nudity or just have their transition be a footnote in the larger story.
snow - think about it we are all born nude at somepoint somewhere humans decided to put on clothes why do you think they did that ? Humans weren't born to wear clothes either. Whilst some tribes in warmer climes maybe nude you don't get many nudist eskimos. Although remember reading somewhere that under Mum's fur coat and in the sling all an eskimo baby wears is a hat and a nappy.
So any weather conditions that might make them want to strip? Also the coccon thing, anything other than tails and gills they could gain?
Weird thought, the mc's have always associated legs with little kids; how might they react to human adults.
What if they're was a race of bipedial sharks... So the kid associate legs with carnivorous monsters!
Maybe the MC's were swimming near the shore, got chased onto land by said shark monsters; decided to stay a while.
why have they never had cooked food before ? This is all getting so complicated - I have no idea where this story is at, who is doing what, why - have you got things worked out ? This end feels unwieldy.
Good point. Although they wouldn't be used to meat being lavishly prepared. And how old do you think mer kid's would have to be to take care of themselves before they change?
Would they need to cook? Plenty of things (and people) eat raw fish... I know this post is a bit old now, but since the question wasn't answered, I thought I'd answer it. How old to take care of themselves? Hmmm... It depends on location really. If scary fish/crocodiles/other semi-aquatic thing aren't scared of mer people, or humans, then they'd need to be quite old to avoid being eaten. If, however, they're in a safe area, for any reason, they could be quite young. One of the reasons why it takes modern kids until at least 18 to move out is because of all the school and money needed to function in society today. In a fantasy setting (is that what this is?), without learning calculus or needing to deal with a fast-paced life, somebody could probably care for themself at around 9-11 years old, in a resource-rich area, if they absolutely had to. I remember an article about a ten year old boy from Indonesia. His parents both died of disease, and he's been taking care of his two younger siblings for a couple years already, including working for food. So for the answer, they could be quite young when they start taking care of themselves, although too much hardship could lead to mental scarring.
