I washed Sophia’s Guns ‘n’ Roses onesie last week and wondered, “How silly is it that I am making my infant wear T-shirts promoting a band I like.”
I bought the Guns ‘n’ Roses onesie while I was pregnant, screen printed with the Appetite for Destruction album cover, and was excited for her to grow up and wear it with jeans. Inspired by celebrity baby Maddox, I thought Sophie would look kind of cute.
Of course, she may grow up to hate everything that I like and look back on the cute photos with disgust. But it’s a band and we all have different taste in music, so I’ll deal with it when the day comes.
But while I am willing to dress her up in a rock ‘n’ roll T-shirt so that she can promote a band to the other babies, I’m not ready to leap forward to political statements.
(Sure, music can be a political statement, but I’m not talking about Jello Biafra baby clothes.)
Some parents are making political statements on the playground, though, according to an article on CNN.com, “Kids turned into political billboards.”
““Party-training,“ it seems, can’t start early enough. Baby onesies, bibs and T-shirts with the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant are proliferating as the presidential race accelerates,” according to the article.
“Moms and dads who buy the merchandise say it’s harmless fun that reinforces the family’s core beliefs.”
That’s all well and good, but I’m just not ready to put my kid out to stump.
It could be argued that a T-shirt emblazed with “Pint-size Republican,” or “Demi Democrat,” is not the only way to make a political statement. My daughter’s new pink Converse All Stars (baby size 3) and Dickies jacket (also pink) probably say as much about her parents and our lifestyle as a McCain, Romney, Obama or Clinton T-shirt.
She’s advertising those brands, which in turn advertise a lifestyle. So maybe it’s more of a social, and not political, statement.
In the CNN.com article, Joan Ingber, a therapist who specializes in children’s issues at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy in Manhattan, writes (in regards to political statements on children’s clothes,) “It seems cute and benign. However, the more I think about it, the more it fails to pass my cringe test. It seems that we’re bombarded enough by constant advertising, so why should children become the canvas for any ad? ... Do we really want to see kids in this role?“
Besides Axl and Slash, Sophia also has Sublime and Clash onesies. I’m not taking them back, but perhaps I should balance her wardrobe and social statements with Celine Dion and Hootie and the Blowfish. I need a few more years to digest Mylie Cyrus or Hannah Montana - or whatever the kids call her these days.
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