This is a onesie starting in size 0-3 months. ZERO TO THREE MONTHS! On the other side of the rack was one intended for boys in gray that said "Don't call me chubby. This is all muscle."
So what? A lot of people (including the woman working the infants section) think this is cute. It is not cute, and let me tell you why. I've pretty much always been a big girl. I started gaining weight in fourth grade, and it has fluctuated up and down my whole life. As a kid, I dieted all the time. I tried all the ones in the women's magazines laying around the house, and I even checked weight loss books out of the library aimed at kids. People took it upon themselves to tell me "You have such a pretty face." and "You'd be so much prettier if you just lost a few pounds." Bullies at school called me a variety of uninspired and cruel names. I learned to hate my body, hate what it looked like, and it has only been in the last couple of years that I have finally come to a cease fire. I'm 33. So for 20+ years, I put tons of energy into hating and hating and hating the one and only body I have. Yes, I am heavier than I would like. I would not be averse to dropping a few pounds in order to be able to buy some of the clothes I like that do not come in my current size. However, no matter how big or small I am, it has nothing to do with who I actually am, but I was brought up in a society in which one's worth is believed to be tied to one's weight. Is this really a tradition we want to continue?
No child, girl or boy, needs to grow up in an environment of shame and self-hatred. There is nothing wrong with promoting healthy living, but there's a fine line between that and the area in which fat-shaming and the offensive onesie live. The baby I was buying gifts for is not my own, and I do not plan on having any. I do, however, have very fertile friends, and I want more than anything to promote a world in which our friends' daughters and sons are brought up to value their intelligence, kindness, and courage rather than the size of their jeans. A world in which onesies like this are not a reality. A world in which no one hears "But you have such a pretty face" anymore.
