Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Double Standards.

Today was Cameron's 2 month checkup at the doctor. She weighed in at 10 pounds 10 ounces, and measured a lengthy 23.5 inches. She has been blessed with the big noggin of her dad and the circumference is 16 inches. That lands her at the 75th, 90th and 95th percentiles respectively.

Max was a bigger baby - he was about 13 pounds at 2 months and measured over 24 inches in length. What I find interesting is that when I mentioned that Cameron's older brother had been much bigger at this age, the nurse commented "well, you don't want your little girl being big like that, better for her to be petite!". Hmmmm...seems really odd to me to be caring how chubby or petite your baby is at this age (is she trying to pick-up at the weekly play group?). How sad that we are placing these double standards on our daughters at such an early age. Even sadder that the nurse was not the only person to express this sentiment to me today. Not to worry Cameron - I love you just the way you are...even if you are a little small for my liking. Kidding! Seriously though, in a world where women starve themselves to death and major retailers make skinny jeans for toddlers, we need to think a bit about how we speak to our daughters. In only a few short months she will understand what we are saying and it would be devastating to think that a baby could develop a weight complex before she can even step on a scale.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:52 a.m.

    OMG. That blows me away. I HATE the cultural gender norms and how they are thrown at us left and right - even if unconsciously. It's going to be a challenge for us to protect our daughters from this, but we can try!

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  2. For sure. I keep telling Cameron how smart she is...it is easy to get caught up in the "you're so pretty" mentality.

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  3. Anonymous5:01 p.m.

    Yes it is. I still tell Claire how pretty/cute she is (cuz she IS) but, you're right, we need to tell them other things to measure themselves by.

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