rivka | Frivolous retail therapy poll.

Frivolous retail therapy poll.

Our finances, which have been tight for the last year and a half, are suddenly about to ease up. A lot. With more discretionary income on the near horizon, it's time to revisit the link folder where I've been storing up adorable toddler-sized sloganed T-shirts.[1]

I feel a little ambivalent about putting slogans on my kid. As I've said before:

I'm not entirely sure where to draw the line when it comes to ascribing my own political opinions to my child. On the one hand, I generally think it's distasteful when parents treat their young child as a political signboard, or put words in the child's mouth that they're too young to understand. My kid is not my mini-me. On the other hand, I think it's important to communicate our values from the very beginning, and to make political involvement and social justice work part of our family's everyday lives.

So, where does the line fall in T-shirt form? I welcome comments, personal philosophies, and of course, votes in my retail therapy poll.

[Poll #1138454]

[1] Yes, at some point I'll spend some of the extra disposable income on things for myself. It's just a lot more fun to buy clothes for Alex. Buying clothes for myself is work, and not pleasant work.

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I think the worth and dignity is a good plan because it isn't even an *opinion*, it's something which should be a bedrock axiom of her life.

Seconded.

Thirded. Also, she is cute as all get-out.

Edited 2008-02-14 19:09 (UTC)

Yup - that one was my favorite, though I also tickyboxed "President not Princess" and "Girls Rock."

But then, I'm the one who learned from my mother to respond to statements like, "Oh- you must be Carole's daughter!" with a smile and, "Why yes - and a person in my own right."

The inherent-worth-and-dignity one made me laugh, so got my vote on strength of that alone. :)

Well, the second half: "cute as all get-out".

I picked the ones I did because I thought there might be a chance that she'd sign off on them as-stated.

...Although you never know. She liked the Obama YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY) - she sat on my lap chanting "Yes! We! Can!", which was kind of fun.

And then we went back to our original purpose for being on YouTube, which was looking up videos of hammerhead sharks (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hammerhead+sharks&search_type=). Have I mentioned how awesome it is to be educating a child in the 21st century?

Hey, if she likes the shirt, go for it!

If she has not already decided that "sharks" is fun to say, I will not suggest it to her.

*looks at comment, contemplates urge to say "sharks sharks sharks sharks sharks" . . . decides it may be time to see if I have a fever yet*

I took her to the children's museum yesterday because they've just opened a new Water Play exhibit. Wow, was it fantastic amounts of fun: a "stream table" you could channel, dam, operate a canal lock, or just drive boats up and down; unstable boats you could load with legos and see if they'd still float; windows you could wash with a spray bottle and squeegee, all kinds of other stuff. She played there for more than an hour, totally absorbed.

At dinner I was telling Michael how cool it was, and turned to Alex for corroboration.

She looked up from her plate and said coolly, "It didn't have a real hammerhead shark." And that was her only comment.

Why is it all about hammerhead sharks right now? Good freaking question. But yes, she already knows how much fun it is to say "sharks." (And "squeegee.")

"It didn't have a real hammerhead shark."

Well, ex*cuse* me! =>

I have seen a T-shirt advertised that says "please don't give my parents unsolicited advice," which strikes me as . . . probably satisfying for the parents but somewhat aggressive, especially to be putting on a kid.

The Kids Room at the Maryland Science Center has a waterplay permanent exhibit...I'm not sure if you were talking about that or Port Discovery, but I know lots of people who got memberships to the MSC _just_ to take their kids to the Kids Room every week, day, or hour. But then, I did work there full-time. ;-P

We do love the kids' room at the MSC, and especially the water table. But Port Discovery just opened up a large permanent water play area that's even cooler, because there are so many more different water activities. We have memberships to both.

Edited to add: Sadly, the MSC water play area doesn't have a real hammerhead shark either.

Edited 2008-02-15 02:29 (UTC)

The water play exhibit sounds very cool. :) My nephew, V, had lots of fun at a similar one at the Monterey Bay Aquarium (http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/); (which does, btw, have hammerhead sharks (http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/efc_smm/smm_meetBrowser.asp?tf=14)).

Good luck with the cute t-shirts for Alex. :)

I'm going to be opening a cafepress shop soon, and "I'm a child, not an idiot" is going to be one of the items.

We have a picture of Molly, at two months old, sporting a "Women for Gore and Lieberman" sticker, despite my own mixed feelings about using my child as a political billboard. I'll note that now, at seven, she is a fervent Clinton supporter....despite the fact that Ed and I are supporting Obama. Alas, I haven't seen a "Girls for Hillary" button or t-shirt anywhere. I did filch a Clinton sign from the Caucus so that she could put it up in her bedroom. I love that she's got her own opinions that differ from mine (even if it's all because she's an unashamed one-issue candidate-picker and Clinton is the GIRL so that's who Molly wants in office).

I really like the "Teach Evolution" one and the "Cute As All Get-Out" one. I like "President Not Princess" for an older kid (Molly has said that she wants to be president when she grows up; if they made it in her size, I'd be tempted) but I am mildly irritated by any t-shirt that declares some future goal for a child too young to really have any ambitions of their own, and I don't think I'd put one on my kid. I also think that a shirt that says "President Not Princess" on a toddler is tempting fate to give you a three-year-old with an even more obsessive interest in the Disney Princesses than is typical.

Besides, who knows, you might reinstate the monarchy by the time those girls are old enough.

I can imagine a universe where "Princesses Not Presidents" is a monarchist slogan, though perhaps not in the US.

Yikes. I went surfing through CafePress to see if I could find anything "Girls for Hillary" related - searching first for "Hillary Clinton," and then for children's sizes. And wow, there's an enormous nasty cesspool of disgusting anti-Clinton shirts out there. Which people have felt called to create in baby sizes.

Yuck.

I know that the mean-spirited streak runs deep in American politics, but an open search for "Barack Obama" shirts brings up nothing like that. It's got to be sheer misogyny.

He didn't have as much time to work them up into a froth of hate. You just wait. :-(

I think any way you dress your baby is in a way a political statement: if you dress them in blue/pink, if you don't, if you put frilly dress on them, if you don't... you might as well add the words!

In lieu of picking them *all*, because I like them all, I chose based on how I’d probably shop had I a daughter. I like the girl power ones the most, because they are relevant to who she is right now.

(And even if she's a rebellious teenager, and is conservative just to annoy her parents, she'll still be a STRONG GIRL.)

My choices reflect my mixed feelings on the matter of kids as billboards (and my love of the evolution graphic!).

I know! It is so much cooler than any kind of ape-and-human graphic could ever be.

Fun, cute, and consciousness-raising.

I have sort of a prejudice against stuff for kids - even very cool sloganed stuff - that emphasises the gender thing. I worry a little bit about contributing to - oh, gender alienation is much too strong a word but - yet another generation growing up being shown that the difference matters a lot. I wonder if this maybe didn't bother me before nephew Duncan was born?

I now want to make shirts that say "Vote Tickybox."

I wonder if someone has done that already?

The only one I object to on grounds of ascribing an opinion she may not share is the "Obama Girl" one -- "Evolution" and "President" are a little opinion-y, but they're things you probably have a much better idea whether or not she'd agree with. I see nothing even slightly questionable about the wordless chalice one, but the one with words is way cuter.

I voted for "President, not Princess" because I think on the whole t-shirt logos should be short -- especially on someone whose shirt isn't that big to start with. And it's a sentiment I held as a kid, although a few years older than Alex is now.

Certainly "I have inherent worth and dignity, and I'm cute as all get-out" applies to Alex, but it would be a lot to fit on a shirt for someone who's not even 3 yet.

In non-slogan news, I am dying for t-shirts with Dr. Suess characters on them. I mean, I guess it is feeding the commercialization of childhood machine, but I want a t-shirt of "Goat in Goo-goo Goggles" from the ABC book (which exist.)

Also on my "if I thought buying $20 t-shirts was worthwhile" list is a Jonathan Coulton Code Monkey tee.

The President Not Princess people also have a Doctor Not Diva shirt.

The AMWA (American Medical Women's Association) chapter at my university sells T-shirts to medical students that say, "I *am* the doctor my parents wanted me to marry."

I think evolution (and for that matter, global warming) are important enough that I would not object to a child being dressed in an appropriate T-Shirt. The endorsement of a political candidate, OTOH, would make me uneasy - while I really loved the 'I'm too young to vote. What's your excuse' one. If you want to support a particular candidate, wear the T-shirt. Or a button; but don't drag your kid into it.

Heck, I'd go for all of them. But I have no problem with parents expressing their politics through their kids. (-:

So I mostly checked the ones that made me go "awwwww..."

There are statements of your politics that are not ascribed to any politician, and I'd go with one of those. These can be found that are kid-centric, not adult politics on tiny shirts.

Our local economy supports two sources. Try these shirts from the Northern Sun Alliance ("Products for Progressives since 1979"), or my favorite these shirts from the Northland Poster Collective ("The Mall of the Other America").

Personal fave:

"Yes it's milk we fight for, but we fight for cookies too."

K.

OMG, Northern Sun Merchandising! I remember my brother and I circulating their catalog among our friends in high school, trying to get enough orders to make the biggest bulk discount. Yeah.

Personal fave:

"Yes it's milk we fight for, but we fight for cookies too."

I love that!!

Sadly, neither of those companies seems to make shirts in toddler sizes. Just infant onesies and youth-size shirts. A youth size small would hold three of Alex.

"Young people are the solution, not the problem" is my favorite-- it's behind the second link.

Where is my milk and cookies shirt?!

Have you seen the hammerhead shark t-shirts? This one is very pro-environmental looking, and beautiful too. http://www.cafepress.com/buy/hammerhead+shark/-/pv_design_prod/pg_1/p_storeid.53871093/pNo_53871093/id_12250737/opt_/fpt_/c_666/

OMG she would love that! A dolphin and a hammerhead shark! Thank you!

I vote for this one.

B

I don't know which ones she'd believe in herself. I mean, my children wore "Actually, I wasn't planning to wean" in black on white and "My dad is a feminist and so is my mum" in curly pink font.

Something like "I like dinosaurs but not in charge of my school" might be good if you could make it pithier...

Oh, and I think she can be a president AND a princess if she wants to be. If she happened to fall in love with a royal personage, or something. I'm not sure how she could get to be a princess.

She could just be president in fairy wings and a big fluffy tiara. That would be fine.

Though if you put the conversation that she had with *M* on it about what a cat says,
I would approve.

(the i can has cheeseburger conversation)

The Monterey Bay Acquarium is having "shark days" and this page http://www.mbayaq.org/vi/vi_events/vi_events_sharks.asp has a link for an iron on shark picture to make your own t-shirt, if you're interested.

If Alex would like the wordless chalice, I like it. It's an expression of belonging that I suspect she would agree with, but without the words she gets to decide what belonging means. I want every UU toddler to know is that church is a safe place where adults care about you. I think a chalice T-shirt is a reminder of that. That being said, it sounds like a shirt with a dolphin and a shark would be super exciting to her.

I really like the wordless chalice picture. I'm thinking of getting one in black for me, and one in yellow (her favorite color) for her.

Alex was about 1 1/2 when she first learned to identify a chalice. Michael had gone to some kind of JPD workshop and come home with a bunch of brochures emblazoned with chalices. Alex took one look and said, "Mama's necklace!" We explained what it was, and she spent the next couple of Sundays on a chalice hunt at church. It seemed to be very exciting for her to recognize this connection between our family and the church.

I don't know if you ever read Phil's Little Blog on the Prairie (http://philontheprairie.wordpress.com/) - he does lifespan RE for the Prairie Star district. I've been heavily influenced by a series of posts (http://home.earthlink.net/~psdlund/id2.html) he wrote about establishing a religious home. He's led me to put a lot of thought into how we show Alex that our religion is an important part of our lives - at home as well as at church.

I know Phil, but haven't been reading his blog. I will have to check that out. Yay, religious home!

There is a ticky box tee shirt (http://www.damnfunnytshirts.com/product_info.php/products_id/60), but I can't find it in toddler sizes.

My favorite is "I have inherent worth and dignity, and I'm cute as all get-out." I think Alex would agree!

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Frivolous retail therapy poll.

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Make your own shark t-shirt

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