Why does the fact that the mother is "athletic" make you surprised that her 4-year-old would be dressed as a princess? Kids are people, too. I know a woman who values comfort in her clothes, doesn't wear makeup, etc, and she was quite flabbergasted when her daughter, at an early age, demanded frills. "Where does she get it from?" she wondered, since it certainly wasn't "nurture"! But that's just how her daughter was. Another woman I know has two daughters. One loves dresses, the other despises them. What are you gonna do? If you have a child that doesn't care what you dress her in (yet), feel blessed that you get to choose!

Various children in my life (grandkids, neices, friend's kids, etc.) have sent me back to shopping for children's clothes, something I hadn't done in a while. I have to take issue with the poster who claims that "Target etc. have upsized children's clothing to accomodate overweight kids". This is nonsense. None of the children I buy clothing for are the least bit overweight, most are actually skinny, and I buy clothing at places like Target, Walmart, K-Mart, Sears, etc.

Just like adult women's clothing, the sizes are all over the map. Remember that virtually all clothes are made in 3rd world countries, most in China or other Asian countries, and that there is NO STANDARD for sizing in women's and children's clothing, and there never has been. In kid's stuff, the implication is that the size relates to the child's age (3 months, 4T, etc.), but as we all know, kids come in vastly different shapes and sizes. You can hold one 2T toddler outfit against another and find them to be wildly different in size and fit. Whatever the problem with overweight kids, I don't think the manufacturers are doing anyting to accomodate it, at least not on purpose.

I also collect vintage clothing, from the 20s-50s. A toddler dress from the 50s is very similar in size and cut to one made today (though the fabric, finish details and quality is much higher in the vintage pieces!).

The exception to this is men's clothing. Apparently men are not subject to vanity sizing or manufacturing randomness. Excepting the very fanciest high fashion stuff, it is mind-numbingly the same and the sizing consistant. I can order stuff for my husband on the internet or from a catalogue without any problem, since a waist size of say 38 actually means pants with a 38 inch waist and so on.

But as far as the article and Ms. Ozment herself -- frankly, Ms. Ozment, you have "issues" and I am sorry to read you projecting them on your INFANT daughter even at such a young age. The giveaway is when you squealed with delight at the pediatrician's when your daughter turned out to be in a low percentile for weight, imagining for her a life of happiness because she'd always be thin. This is nonsense. As pointed out over and over, your weight at birth or as a toddler means very little about your future weight as an adult. The fat on a baby truly IS baby fat, using for future growth, and does not indicate that the baby will be fat. And many a skinny little toddler grows up to be a hefty adult!

It is also true that many yuppie boomer/GenX/GenY parents are obsessed with the weight of the their daughters. I guess it is not surprising given the hyperbolic stuff written about weight and obesity and controlling it early in life. You can't really be surprised when a weight-obsessed woman in her thirties, having struggled with her own weight for 20 years, finally gives birth and imagines her daughter (not her sons) having inherited her own weight "problems", whether those problems are real or imagined. I think it is literally impossible for many women in our culture to be able to see a cute, chubby infant or toddler body for the glorious thing it is without at the same time worrying pathetically about whether that little "Buddha belly" will grow up to be fat, undesirable teenager....so much of our self-esteem ends up being dependent on the reflected glory we get from our kids. Nothing reflects LESS glory than a fat GIRL child, her heavy body, her lack of compliance with fashion and diet, cancelling out every good thing about her, her quick wit, her kind personality, her good heart, her straight A grades and so on, all meaning literally nothing unless her body is skinny and perfect and pure of desire for "bad foods".

The real losers here are girl children who are forbidden even at the age of ONE apparently from being comfortable, happy and free to glory in the natural perfection of their own bodies. Trust me, even tiny children quickly pick up on their parent's "issues" and learn in what ways they fall short or disapoint. It is no wonder to me at all that over 50% of girls in elementary school are on diets.

>For example, there is no way that my 3 year old can wear a size 3 from Target. It is way too big, falling off. He has to wear about a size 18 months.<

Well, at least he can wear one of the sizes (with sizes to spare.) Trust me, it's better he be able to fit into a size than not be able to find any clothes at all to wear.

> think its all fine and well to have size acceptance, but I also think the up-sizing of clothes decreases parents' awareness of their childrens' weight problems.... Maybe if retailers didn't increase clothing sizes to accomodate obese children, more parents would notice that they should cut down on the junk food.<

Speaking as someone who gained height and weight around her 13th birthday and began a lifelong quest to find clothes that fit--that's nonsense. And condescending nonsense at that. If you had to take extra days and money to find school clothes for your kids because nothing fit, you'd see that up-sizing is a blessing. You aren't concerned about how tough it is for "slim" kids to fit into clothes--you are using that to disguise your dislike of overweight kids. Nice.