Dear Neighbor,

I walk past your car and hardly ever fail to notice the two stickers on it.  One warns “No Fat Chicks” and the other proclaims “Baby Princess on Board”.  I’ve been wanting to post this letter on your windshield for some time but I know there are lots of other proud, new fathers of baby princesses who also don’t want fat chicks riding in their cars so this goes out to all of you.

First of all, congratulations on the birth of your daughter.  A new life on this earth is always a wonderful thing.  But here’s a question you probably haven’t yet considered:  what if your little bundle in pink turns out to be a fat chick?  Will her size revoke her status as princess?  Will you refuse to give her rides to soccer practice, dance lessons or slumber parties with her friends because she became what you don’t want in your car?  Or have you condemned your child to a lifetime of endless diets, possible eating disorders, low self-esteem or hating her body parts because they don’t conform with what Daddy finds acceptable?

Even if the sticker is your misguided idea of a joke, have you realized the kind of thinking you’ve set up for your child?  Do you understand that it will allow her to believe that there’s only one kind of beautiful and that it’s OK to make fun of fat people or anyone who looks different than she does?

I hope you remove that sticker before your little girl learns to fear the numbers on the bathroom scale or memorize how many calories are in a piece of birthday cake.  I hope you teach her to run, dance, play, love, hug and know that her body can do amazing things.  I hope she grows up knowing that people come in all shapes and sizes and that’s what makes life interesting.  I hope she learns to accept and respect the differences in our world and spread that knowledge when one classmate invariably teases another.  I hope that, if she even if she does become a fat chick, she will always be your princess.