I don't understand - why do toddler swimmers need cutouts?

"I'm just curious who is actually buying these for a two-year-old?" a stunned mum has asked.

2 min read

March 12, 2024 - 10:14AM

I don't understand why toddler swimsuit need cutouts

Parenting

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A mum recently found herself shocked when searching for a swimsuit for her two-year-old. She discovered that all of them had cutouts.

Victoria Yavnyim was shopping for new swimmers for her daughter, and as she pulled out the options, she promptly put them back. All of them had cutouts, which would expose her toddler's hips.

She took to Instagram to share her frustrations.

In the clip, she asks, "Can we just talk about why toddler swimsuits have cutouts to show their hips?" and adds in the caption, "I'm just curious who is actually buying these for a two-year-old?"

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"My question is, who is designing these?"

Victoria's video hit a nerve, going viral with 17 million views and sparking passionate conversation in the comments section.

One mum longed for the good old days, saying, "I miss the full-body Barbie swimsuits that came with the tutu skirt add-ons or the matching swim shorts!"

Victoria wasn't the only one questioning why this "style choice" had reached such young age groups.

"People are just excusing it by calling it cute or children be looked at regardless," one viewer wrote. "Why are children's clothing being designed to show more skin? People aren’t thinking about the bigger picture, and it is genuinely terrifying."

"It's gross to see all these adult women saying that little girls should be dressing like grown women. It’s not even just about predators. It's just plain inappropriate. They are kids. Let kids be kids," another person stated.

"Why isn’t it normalised to give young girls swimming shirts and shorts?" a third questioned.

"My question is, who is designing these?" another wrote.

"The biggest problem with these suits is sunscreen!"

One viewer swallowed their outrage and shared that the cutouts were practical and not fashionable.

"OK, I did some research, and with the missing section of the fabric, bathing clothes can become slippery (especially young children’s bathers), so they cut that hole to make it easier to lift young ones out of the water. I hope this helps!"

While this mother, thinking logically, worried about possible sun damage, said, "The biggest problem with these suits, though, is sunscreen. You have to make sure there’s sunscreen on all exposed skin, and these cutouts make applying more difficult."

Why do toddler swimsuits need cutouts? Source: Instagram

"Styles don't sexualise, adults do"

Others didn't have an issue with the cutouts. Instead, they called out adults for sexualising the swimsuits.

"I mean, I don't really think this is weird. I'm Italian, and when I was little, it was perfectly normal for girls (myself included) to wear a bikini bottom and no top to the beach," one viewer shared. "A swimsuit like this is not inherently sexual at all unless someone makes it weird...which they shouldn't."

"Because it's a style... styles don't sexualise, adults do," another replied.

"There is nothing wrong for a little girl to wear something like this," one parent finally wrote. "The people who sexualise them are wrong, and they will do it anyway."