Mommy's Little Slugger

Has anyone reading this not heard my rant on gendered children's clothing?  Really?  Where have you been living?

Then if everyone's sitting comfortably, I'll go through it again.

First, I want to have more children (really, I do.  And there were only about 3 days at the beginning where I thought that it wouldn't be so bad for M to be an only child).  There is presumably a just about even chance that said other child will be a boy.  Baby clothes don't exactly wear out, and so it is ridiculous that there is so little genderless baby clothing.  I mean, there are white onesies out there with slightly gathered sleeves, so that they look feminine.  Who needs their baby's undershirt to look feminine? 

And all of the baby sleepers for little girls seem to insist that the baby will be a ballerina.  It's not that I'm against ballerinas, mind you, but putting fake toe shoes on the feet of a baby sleeper seems a bit much.  So I've taken to getting a good bit of M's stuff in the boy's section, where one can at least get things in browns and greens with animals on them that don't have to be masculine.  When I went to pick up some 3-6 month stuff the other day, the checkout person asked me if I had twins and where the boy one was.  I said that I was just trying to get stuff that wasn't gender specific, and she said that I couldn't put my little girl in boy's clothes because it would confuse her later in life.

 Hear that Mom?  I'm apparently confused.

And it really bugs me that all the little boy clothes seem to advocate sporting pursuits, and none of the little girl clothes do.  I think there's a case for some sort of Title 9 lawsuit here.*  When you think about all the time and effort we spend arguing for equality between the sexes, which we quickly throw out the window for the 2 years we can make our daughters wear frilly clothes, it's enough to make you burn something.**

Anyway, I've decided to buck the system.  My daughter can play sports if she wants to, and wear bright colors and not be a ballerina.*** 

*Yes, I know it's about funding for sports, and clothing availability doesn't really come under its umbrella, but it should.

**Though not a bra, because nursing bras are expensive.

***Which was probably a given anyway.