Low Rise: A Big Problem
Little L is a fairly tall and big child for her age. She weighs nearly 37 pounds and reaches almost 39" in height. Her clothing size is fairly consistently a 4T, although depending on fit she can wear anything from a 3T to an XS (4-5) in the girls' department.
A problem I've noticed recently is that when Little L wears certain pants (and sometimes even when she wears leggings), she risks revealing some bum crack. The top of her underpants often end up showing, as does that section of her tailbone that leads to her bottom.
This is immensely disturbing to me, because she's 3 years old, and the people who design and make her clothing should (in theory) be cognizant that the consumers of their bottoms would be very young. Some kids her age still wear diapers, so one would think that the problem would be one of excess material around the butt, or pants with too high a rise to accommodate puffy diapers, not the opposite.
It also pisses me off because our society, as a whole, has a tendency towards explicit material and the hypersexualization / oversexualization of children, particularly young girls. Some light reading on the topic:
30% of Girls' Clothing is Sexualized in Major Sales Trend
Protecting Children from a Sexualized Childhood
The Disturbing Sexualization of Really Young Girls
A Target Intervention on Behalf of My Daughters
I won't bother rehashing the content already described in these links. Suffice it to say, I am not interested in making Little L look "sexy" or "trendy" or like a Bratz/Barbie doll. I don't want her navel or her ass to be on display, and I don't appreciate that my purchases at Old Navy or Target or Joe Fresh will sometimes cause her to have a plumber bum. I think I am going to have to start bringing a tape measure to check the inseams/rises on pants before I buy them for her. And I am going to have to start putting her in tunics and dresses along with pants, to compensate for the low-rise problems we are now encountering.
This is just so wrong on so many levels. I'm gutted that this issue even exists. Why can't kids just dress like kids?! When even pants get the sexualized treatment, our culture needs to give its head a shake!
Comments
I'm finding that Walmart also fits small on Little L, however; she has been wearing their size 5 leggings for the past 6 months! That said, we haven't really ventured into Gymboree and Children's Place territory, and we don't have a Carters nearby (that I know of). I may need to branch out into other labels, though. Do you have favourites?
And as for whether I read or "follow" other bloggers, I do! I read people who share my views and people who totally don't. I read people who have some very strange ideas about what is appropriate parenting, and others who I think have excellent judgement as parents.
Based on your comments, I would conclude that you assume that because I read a particular blogger, that I must absolutely agree with everything that she says or does. Assumptions are dangerous, you know! And given your logic and the fact that you've read *my* blog (enough to even comment...TWICE), should I then conclude that you "follow" me or agree with everything I say?...
But thanks for stopping by! I wasn't expecting notoriety but I appreciate the "readership" hits! :)
Part of the problem with 4T and XS might be that most designers assume that the diapers stop at 3T and they stop building in that extra poof of tush area for that age.