This Photo Perfectly Shows Why Shopping For Boys Is a Struggle

Take a look at this seemingly normal picture. Notice anything off about it? No, it's not the clothes, which are — not surprisingly — adorable. No, it's not the prices, which seem more than reasonable and even cheap. What shocks me is that if I had a daughter, I would have five times more clothing options than I do for my son (according to the numbers listed in the top left corner)!

Look, I get that maybe older boys don't care about clothes, but at my toddler's age that shouldn't matter. As the person who is buying clothes for her perfectly handsome toddler, I want him to look good and feel good in what he wears. It makes my day a lot easier when he doesn't fight me over getting dressed, and even at 2, he has his favorite clothing items. Maybe if he had the same kind of clothing diversity as girls, the morning wouldn't be a struggle.

I've wondered for a long time whether or not a love of clothing is a learned or innate trait. Part of me suspects that if we want men to dress better when they're older, shouldn't we teach boys early on that clothing can be fun and a way to express themselves?

Instead of expecting less from boys, we should expect more from stores, because this kind of discrepancy is not OK. As a parent of only one child, I had prepared myself to spend some money on his clothes, but like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, I'm not even being given a chance. Hopefully big retailers will realize soon that boys deserve better — otherwise people will take their money to the companies that get it. This is a big mistake. Big. Huge.