If Baby Girls Are Divas, Then So Are Baby Boys

fussy baby girl

Babies are difficult by their very nature. They can’t even hold their own heads up for the first few months of life and we all know the amount of general upkeep they require. That is why I find it incredibly annoying that so many people say baby girls are “divas”, as if being a normal, fussy baby is somehow uniquely feminine. A baby has no idea what they are doing and no ability to manipulate so calling them divas at all, even jokingly, is stupid. However, if we are going to say baby girls are divas, then so are baby boys. It’s only fair.

I have always hated this notion- that baby girls are divas, princesses, drama queens, etc. for displaying typical baby behavior. It nauseates me on Facebook when I see photos of baby girls crying and among the comments is “oh she is SUCH a lil diva!” Barf. What do we say if it’s a crying baby boy? Probably what one should say about a crying baby- poor little thing. Maybe he’s hungry?

I know this sounds dramatic (forgive me, I have a vagina– it’s in my nature) but it seems harmful to use this term to describe baby girls for the same behavior as baby boys. Now that my kids are older, I still see a similar thing going on where girls with friend issues are said to be “dramatic.” It would seem they are taken less seriously and written off because, girls, amirite?? This is only anecdotal for me but it’s something I have certainly taken note of.

Disturbingly, there is a whole apparel industry for baby girls surrounding this term- diva. My lil diva, diva in training, princess diva. One only needs to search “diva onesie” on Amazon for a whole slew of nauseating options to come up. If we insist on using this term to describe infant girls, then I think these onesies should be offered in blue too because my son was more of a baby diva than his sister ever was.

All of this aside, diva is not really a positive word to attribute to any child. It means fussy, entitled and temperamental. No thanks. Even though it seems benign to say this about an infant that does not understand words, when does it stop? Will a parent or family member in the habit of referring to a little girl as a diva cease and desist at some point before she comes to understand what that word means? Self-fulfilling prophecy, anyone? We have a rather extensive language at our disposal with many positive words we could use in regard to our daughters so can we please put “diva” to rest unless we are talking about Mariah Carey?

(Image: /Shutterstock

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