You see these kids all over town, attached at the hip or holding the hand of their “Fauxhemian” fathers.

It’s “the kid who dresses way too cool for his age.”

Perhaps they’re wearing the seemingly ubiquitous yet tiny Ramones t-shirt. (With the proliferation of this shirt, I’m pretty sure there are more child Ramones “fans” than adult ones.)

Or maybe it’s the infant wearing the onesie proclaiming “I’m going to get drunk at prom.” Awww, what a cute ‘n’ snarky baby!

I get it, someone has to dress the kid, and parents have certain tastes. But the moral dilemma persists: should you use the child as a billboard to display how cool/ironic/funny you the parent are? When the child is old enough, they’ll use clothing as a means of self-expression (and that clothing you will hate). If a kid’s too young to know any better, they’re wearing their parent’s self-expression.

I have a friend who is a major Devo fan. He got his boy listening to Devo at a very young age. Even dressed the boy up in the “Whip It” costume one Halloween. I’ve asked the dad to write about this phenomenon, but it seems to me that when his child was old enough, he might not have even liked the music, but continued an “interest” in it to make his dad happy, and to keep it something they had in common. But that’s a lengthier discussion for another day.

In the meantime, I’m waiting to see these mini-Ts or onesies at the playground: “I’m with the Wu Tang clan” or “I’m smarter than Sarah Palin.”

Up for debate: how far is too far when it comes to dressing and influencing your kids in the things you like?

Post script: one snarky piece of clothing I would actually consider dressing my kid in is the “I’m with stupid –>” onesie, only because it’s so true: I don’t have a clue how to take care of it.