Wow, it has been a week since I last posted – but my time has been well spent getting the new website ready. Stay tuned because we will launch it later this week.
In the meantime, a friend sent me a link to an item on the babyGap website. He was looking for jeans for his just-turned four-year-old daughter. He wanted something that was not flowery, pink or “skinny”. He came across “boyfriend” jeans for toddler girls - as young as 12 months – for “your budding fashionista”. Whoa! What are they thinking?! Why would babyGap name them “boyfriend” jeans? The jeans are also “comfy-cool”. Why can’t they just be “comfy”? This is a great example of age-compression. Marketers use this term to describe the phenomenon of younger children doing things that older children used to do. Age-compression is an effective way to sell more products – such as expensive clothes and electronic gadgets – to younger and younger children. It’s not so great for kids who are being pushed to grow up too quickly. My friend was outraged, and worried about the future his young daughter will face. I was outraged, too, and disgusted as well. You can be sure I’ll be writing a letter to the Gap to let them know.
The babyGap “boyfriend jeans” reminded me of another friend who has a four-year-old daughter. This little girl suddenly took a strong liking to a certain pair of sparkly jeans. She wore them to preschool one day – and then wanted to wear them every day. Guess why. A little boy in her class had told her the jeans were “cool”. Her mom said to her, “You’re four. You’re cute – not cool.”
Raising daughters in today’s highly-sexualized world is a daunting task. In my post from December 28th I mentioned So Sexy So Soon; The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids Diane Levin’s book (cowritten with Jean Kilbourne) as an excellent resource for parents. Another great resource is Joe Kelly, The Dad Man, and an expert on dads and daughters. He has written a whole bunch of books on this topic. Here is the link to his 10 Tips for Dads and Stepdads with Daughters.
If you see things that outrage you as a parent, share your outrage. Let companies know when you aren’t happy. Write to me about what outrages you, and I will share your stories.
In the womens department of most stores you can find a style of jean called “boyfriend” or “boy fit” because the actual cut resembles more closely a mans cut than the modern woman’s jean. It leaves behind the low rise, the tight silhouette, and the not always flattering flare leg. Speaking for women proportioned with more on bottom, these jeans are perfect. I have a 2 year old daughter who is already showing signs of having our family’s bottom half, hips and all, and it has become very hard to find jeans to fit her properly. As rough and tumble as she is, she is too cute to be wearing sweats all the time! Most girls jeans are low rise, tight through the hips, and flare leg, just like a woman’s cut. This style has many downfalls for us: my daughter’s waist and leg length is size 2T, her hips and bottom are some where between 3T and 4T. The waist on her jeans is either too big or too small, and rolling up flare leg pants is a pain because the always come unrolled. When she has on a pair of jeans that fit her length, the are usually too constricting through the hip area, inhibiting her play. When I found “boy fit” jeans at The Children’s Place (one of my favorite stores for little clothes)I was excited because I knew these would work! Our days of dirty pant cuffs, her diaper hanging out every time she bent over, and not being able to throw her leg up on to whatever she was trying to climb were over! I was relieved that my daughter could finally dress like a little kid, not a little fashionista, and sure enough, they work perfect- despite the style name or whatever marketing tool is in play.