The Tiniest Sweethearts
By
Gerry Niskern

America’s tiniest sweethearts need help!
There is a growing trend among new parents today to immediately decorate their newborn baby girls with a headband containing a bow. An elastic headband is placed on their precious little heads. Why? I guess to announce to the world that they are a girl, and not be mistaken for a boy. Maybe it’s to dress them up and make them “pretty”? Thousands of photos are posted online every day of tiny baby girls, sometimes even all swaddled for the night, with those pesky headbands around their heads. Do the parents ever wonder what the baby thinks?
Have you seen those headbands? Some have gradually evolved into turbans with huge bows. I’m sure it’s turning quite a profit for the baby wear industry. Why do parents think it’s necessary to adorn their daughters from day one, but not the boys? You don’t see little boys having to wear tiny elasticized baseball caps clamped on their tender heads. Maybe some designer hasn’t thought of it yet and convinced new parents that it’s a must have?
There are hundreds of “how to “ books out there on how to raise a baby. They all claim to know the best way to go about it. Of course, nobody really knows what a baby thinks. To begin with, thanks to the phenomenon that Sigmund Freud called “infantile amnesia”, nobody can remember what it was like to be a baby. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know what they are thinking about what’s happening to them on their new journey?
In my opinion, and it’s probably just mine, those sweet little baby girls are all beautiful just as they are. There is plenty of time, when they get old enough to make their desires known, to dress them up. If they want to wear huge hair bows and have enough hair to support them, then fine. Little girls need to grow up with a feeling of confidence in themselves. They should hear validation of their worth as a person just because they exist. That solid foundation of her special personality should be established without any hint that she needs to be adorned with anything!
A lot has been written about teenage girl’s lack of confidence causing serious mental health problems. Of course there is no simple solution, but a good start would be for parents to give their little daughters the knowledge that they are a worthy human being just because they ARE! Parents must make every effort early to curb the idea that their girls need to be adorned to be loved.
Celebrate Valentines day by taking those pesky elastic headbands off those little Sweethearts!