When I was pregnant with Anika, I remember walking through the baby clothing section at Superstore, and really, really hoping we would have a girl. There was SO MUCH cute stuff to choose from! The boys’ clothing selection was much smaller, and somewhat…pathetic.
When Anika arrived, I had lots of fun dressing her up, and then had that fun all over again with Kaylia.
Fortunately, by the time Everett was born and I needed to venture into the boys’ clothing again, a lot had changed. There’s a lot more variety, and super cute clothing – I LOVE dressing our sweet boy! So much fun. My favorites are anything striped or plaid, soft and comfy.:)
But I have to say, there are definitely some disturbing trends going on with boys’ clothing. The things I need to get off my chest today may be completely ridiculous thoughts, but seriously? These sweet boys wearing these weird clothes are going to grow up to be men someday, and I wonder what kind of messages we are bombarding them with from a very young age….
From what I’ve found so far, there are basically four categories of clothing choices out there, other than the cartoony style that’s been around forever:
1) Heartbreaker
Wait, what? At three months, we’re going to start focusing on a little boy’s relationship with members of the opposite gender?
I get it that it’s all a joke, but when does that joke stop? I met a couple who constantly talked about girls chasing after their 8-year-old son, and how desirable he was, and it was all supposed to be funny, but he had ears. He was a smart boy. I’m curious if he’ll grow up to think, “All the girls love me! Let me take my pick….”
Scary.
I wonder if it’s natural for parents to want even a tiny bit of this for their kids. I want our children to be liked by others. I want them to be considered attractive and wonderful and desirable. There is a little part of me that likes the idea of Everett charming the girls while he strums his guitar, but do I want him flirting constantly, and growing up to be all full of himself, with the idea that girls will fall all over him? Not really.
No heartbreaker onsies for him.
2) Sports Fanatic
This one is definitely more acceptable in my books, but there’s still part of me that resists the idea of filling Everett’s life with sports before he can even crawl. If he likes sports as he gets older, I’m sure he’ll want to wear sporty clothing, but how about we wait and see?
Everett does own a sport-themed clothing item that I completely love: a onesie that says, “I’m told I like hockey.”
So true.
Really, when it comes right down to it, do I want to be dressing my baby up like a football?
Do I want him constantly wearing clothing that reminds me of big, sweaty men who get paid enormous amounts of money to play sports for a living? Not so much. But since Ben loves hockey, we will venture into this category occasionally.
3) Woodland Wanderer
It’s almost as though Snow White and Prince Charming had a baby, and all the clothing designers tried to come up with sleepers that would be fitting for a prince whose parents met in the woods, and his mother sings and dances with squirrels and birds on a regular basis.
Seeing as that sounds a lot like me, I tend to lean towards this trend in baby clothes. I love the wholesome, foresty feel to all the cute clothing featuring foxes and racoons, and whatever else is considered whimsical and on-trend right now.
Maybe Everett will not grow up to like roaming in the forest, but I hope so. And it’s better than sweaty men.
4) Little Man
This is another one of my favorites. Some days, Everett and Ben could almost be twins. I find all those little plaid shirts so incredibly cute. There are a few drawbacks, including an increase in ironing. How silly is it that I’m doing ironing for a four month old?!
Also, it makes Everett seem far too grown-up. Anika and I agree – we love the cute clothes, but we want to get him home and change him into some fuzzy sleepers so he’ll be our own dear baby again!!
Fortunately, there’s something for everyone out there, and lots of variety.
Anyway, I’m all caught up on the ironing, and Everett is fast asleep in his cozy crib, wearing his ducky sleepers. It’s time for me to slip out for a dance with the woodland creatures in the bush down by the river….
Ordinary Days 
You missed the skull & crossbones trend… I can’t stand that!!! Lol
Cutie!! And I agree about the boy clothes & only loving the 2 bottom options 🙂
Funny. I agree about just getting him home into his fuzzy sleeper so he’ll be your little guy again. Maya wanted me to bring Judah to school to meet her classmates and she requested that I please put him in a cozy sleeper. They just feel like sweet cuddly babies when they’re dressed like that. I also found that last week when he was sick, I just kept him in his sleepers all week thinking, “When I’m sick, I want to be as comfortable as possible…he must want that, too.” Really, his other clothes are actually quite soft and comfy, too, but nothing beats a cozy sleeper. I agree, too, on your clothing preferences for a baby. I’m sometimes a little confused about why babies have to be “heartbreakers”. Yikes. That feeling also translates into older children’s clothes, though. I have never been a fan of kids wearing shirts that say, “Talk to the hand” or “I’d rather be playing video games”. I’ll take stripes or plaids for my boys, thank you very much.