What is up with the children's clothing industry?!? There are hundreds of choices for cute little dresses and jumpers and SHOES (like seriously, ridiculous amounts of shoes) for little girls eeeeeverrryyywhheeerrreee. Don't even get me started on accessories.
Can I find ONE simple pair of shoes, or a spring jacket, or even just a couple of cute outfits for a boy? Hell no. I have been scouring this week for the above mentioned things and have become increasingly more and more agitated about the lack of selection for boys. Seriously, do retailers really believe that only girls need to wear shoes and jackets?! Really?!?
Have you ever noticed that when you enter the children's section of a store that the frilly girl things are right out front and center and, generally, the boys stuff is hidden around the back side. Why? Oh because it's not as completely adorable as the girls' stuff. So, then, start making boys stuff so freakin' adorable that people who don't even have kids want to stop and buy it!
And, no, I don't mean let's start adding sparkles and tutus to boys clothes. I mean start making clothes that have a personality to them. Generally speaking, when looking for boys clothes, you get to choose between a handful of themes like sports, cutesy animals, cars or rock-n-roll, oh, or the crude ones like "Boob Man" you see in a few places. (I get that people often find these funny, but I just have a hard time finding the humor in "dick and fart" jokes) all of which are imprinted on onesies, sweatshirts, overalls and regular every day pants like sweats or jeans. Not much variety here and apparently accessories like shoes are restricted to sport or racing car themed tennies.
I would love to see some variety in the boys section! Just because a parent has a male child rather than a female one should that automatically make them not care what said child wears? Should the child, as it grows into its own personality, not be able to decide what their personal style is regardless of gender?
I think the problem with this lies in the old misconceptions that A. boys shouldn't wear anything nice, they'll just dirty it/ruin it and B. that dressing a boy well will in some way make them more "girly" and therefore precondition them to be gay when they are older. Again, don't get me started on the homophobic inaccuracy of this perception.
To these ideas I respond with two words and an explicative: "Cary-f'ing-Grant!" (So classy!)
When did dressing well become strictly a feminine endeavor? Throughout most of history, men have had just as large a presence in clothing and fashion as women (think 18th Century France for a moment).
Taking care and pride in how you present yourself is an important part of building self confidence (Remember Rule #2?). I see no reason to exclude boys from this soley based on some sort of societal gender role issue.
Please keep in mind that this does not mean I will in anyway deny Baby J the cheesy Sponge Bob tee he wants at five because it's just the coolest thing. I only want to encourage him to dress to suit his own personality, whatever that may be, and I like to hope he'll have the opportunity to "dress up" a bit when he so chooses.
Besides, for now, I'm the one doing the shopping and I happen to like dressing my child in clothes that are unimaginably adorable and still "very boy!" *end rant*
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