“I wouldn’t put my kids in that,” Ms. Marwanning said disdainfully, speaking of the “President Poopyhead” tees. “I don’t do ‘poopy’ shirts. It’s too derogatory.”  Appaman.com’s Mr. Husum, meanwhile, doesn’t approve of the most blatantly anti-Bush shirts. “It’s not offensive,” he said, “but I wouldn’t necessarily put it on my own kid. I don’t think it’s so funny.”

 

Miranda Purves, a Park Slope mom on maternity leave from her job as the lifestyle editor at Elle magazine, expressed general dismay at the idea of using one’s baby as a billboard. “It just doesn’t seem fair, when they can’t even roll over by themselves, to force them to be little signposts for your opinions,” Ms. Purves said.

 

Patrons of the chic Upper East Side children’s store Jacadi, where knit bonnets and lace-trimmed dresses tend to sell for over $60 apiece, also find the vogue for infant signage oh-so-gauche.

 

“That would not be my cup of tea,” said a woman named Linda shopping at the store the other day, a former Upper East Side parent who recently moved to another New Jersey suburb. “They’re not babies for very long. Let them be babies!” Her sentiment was echoed by Ellie Jones, who manages Jacadi’s midtown location. “I think kids should look like kids,” Ms. Jones said. “It’s just not classic, and they’re growing up too fast.”

 

But Ms. Dolgoff plans to impose her sassy sartorial will on her offspring for as long as she is able. “You do your thing when they’re young, and they’ll do their thing when they’re older,” she said. “They’re going to dress however the hell they want to dress.”