Babies' clothes were not something I ever noticed until about six months ago. Now of course they take up a lot of my time - the putting on, the wiping down, the taking off, the laundering, the folding, the putting away, the putting on, the wiping down, the taking off, etc etc.One thing I've noticed is the absurd proliferation of pockets. Wriggly has a pair of overalls with seven functional pockets. Presumably this is so that he has somewhere to put his cellphone and his iPod. A pair of denim dungarees even have those little bitty coin pockets, so my baby can safely stow his loose change. The other day my lovely mother-in-law bought Wriggly some brown corduroy overalls which were seconds. She pointed out to me the flaw - the lining of one of the pockets had a hole in it. Oh noes!!11!!
And don't even start me on the jeans with the working zip fly. I'm sure they will be very useful for Wriggly next time he pees standing up.
Of course the weirdness of baby clothes that are designed to be as similar to adult clothes as possible is all very funny, and cute, when you have a little boy. Nothing to concern anyone about a row of belt loops that include a specific little bit of material to hang your tiny baby hammer from.
Not so amusing are the sexualised clothes for little girls. Bikinis for babies? Mini skirts for mini Misses? While I imagine parents don't generally buy these clothes for their own children, I'm reminded of the controversy about World's Future Porn Star T-shirts, and how they were aimed at "cool aunties" buying gifts for their nieces. Creepy doesn't even begin to describe it.
Getting back to the pockets - I'm curious; do those with daughters find the baby clothes have lots of pockets too, or is it just a boy thing?
6 comments:
Yes girls clothes are much the same - but PINK :-) I went to buy a new skirt for my 5 year old to wear to school today and came away with nothing. I do not want her to wear a pelmet a la PAris Hilton. Out with the sewing machine methinks.
Oh and why do PJs have pockets - for any age?
I only have boys so I have no idea about girls clothes but, as far as I can tell, the pockets are for the collection and redistribution of sand.
i haven't been buying girls clothes in nz for years now, there's just nothing appropriate. winter clothing is sometimes a little better but not much. about the only thing i buy here are jeans and sometimes i can get a sweatshirt that will go past their waists (have to look hard tho!)
then there's this, which is good news: http://www.crikey.com.au/Business/20080507-DJs-drops-corporate-paedophilia-case.html.
Girls' clothes are quite worrying, sometimes. I have from time to time found it very hard to get clothes that don't make my six year olds look like 14 year olds trying to be 21 year olds.
I wrote a post on it back in pre THM days - Sexualised six year olds. For reasons that I don't even want to think about, it still comes up in some searches that are recorded in my blog stats.
@aaml - I think pj pockets are for hankies? At least that's what mine are sometimes used for. I was stunned at how much pink there is in the children's clothing section, it's like a candyfloss machine exploded in every store. Was it that ubiquitous in the past or does Barbie's relentless marketing machine have even more to answer for?
@hungrymama - I seem to recall using the pockets in my glorious red knickbockers to store snails. Mum never again forgot to check the pockets before putting something in the wash. Mercifully Wriggly's pockets are too tiny to even fit a single slug.
Thanks Anjum and Deborah for the links, will have a looksie!
I have 3 girls (oldest is 5) we vowed against pinkness with the first - now we are swamped in it. The kids like it - dunno why. #2 likes it MUCH more and most days my washing line looks very candyfloss. Thankfully we totally have said NO to the Bratz influence
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