Alright, I'll admit it; I'm not a fan of little girls pretending to be princesses, only agreeing to wear pink & purple, PJ's with Disney characters, and talking about fairies & unicorns. It's just not my speed. I avoided dressing E in pink at first, until I was so tired of passers' by referring to my infant as 'him' and 'he.' It's, I feel a similar aversion that the mom's of boys feel when they start making shooting sounds cocking their fingers in weapon shapes. Although I realize that what my daughter would be imitating is almost the exact opposite of a little Rambo, it's silly I know. Furthermore, I admit there are loopholes in my stronghold. Ballet, for instance. I jumped at the chance to see my little girl follow in my footsteps; starting dance at 3. Although, I would argue that my intentions were to instill discipline, giving her opportunity to explore one of the various facets of dance and movement that she adores. On top of all that, I know that pretend with imagination is crucial to development and the last thing I want to do is stifle her but I'm really struggling with this princess stuff, I can't shake it.
She was recently invited to
a party where all the children dressed up as fairies, they all wrote a story about their adventures, played fairy games, painted their faces and made their own fairy wands. I cringed a little, not wanting my well-balanced little dinosaur lover to turn prissy. To be fair she had a blast, was by far the most eager to participate in the story time, but has since asked repeatedly to sleep with her wand. My friends warned me that these days were approaching, clearly I'm not ready to play along:
(this evening, 2 days after the party)
E - "Mom I want to tap you on the nose and turn you into something!"
me - "Alright. (leaning over)"
she gently taps me on the nose once and I start standing up
E - "No, I need to tap you twice!"
me - "Oh, ok" (I bend again)
E - "What did you turn into?"
me - "Um, a seahorse" (and I start to bob up and down holding my breath)
E - "Ok, I'm going to turn myself into a princess" (there's that word!)
me - "I'm not going to call you that" (what
is wrong with me?)
E - "Ok, then I'll be a fairy who helps rainbows."
Serves me right.
I know what you mean. It's hard to believe that April is already 8......past the princess stage..... as long as you don't go overboard with the "princess" stuff and emphasize other things. It sounds like you have everything under control. She'll be 8 before you know it.
ReplyDeleteAunt Sharon
i'm right there with ya on th eprincess thing. we've gotten tons of hand-me-downs that have princesses on them. i pick past them and leave them in the bags they came in. of course, i still have a say since stella's only 9 mos. later, i'll have to really deal, won't i :)?
ReplyDeletea 'fairy that helps rainbows' -i think might be the sweetest thing i've ever heard!
ReplyDeleteis it that you struggle with ALL princess stuff? or mainly the commercialism of pink/glittery/disney bombardment? i LOVED fairy tales as a child (and i didn't always get the disney version) why not check out half-price books? they have a great selection of kids classics, with old fashioned fairy tale books, beautiful drawings...you could always encourage the Lord of the Rings version of princess, you know! hahahha
ReplyDeletei think her fairy comment is so endearing and smart. she's got eyes and ears wide open, that girl!
I guess my problem lies more with the princess mentality than all the 'stuff,' although my experience has been that the two usually go hand in hand (not always true, I know). Do you remember how many bratty little girls would show up at the J sporting their Beauty and the Beast backpacks, their long feather boas trailing behind them, and their parents answering to their beckon call?
ReplyDeleteIt's a plight against society as well, it's just thrown at them. Just 2 weeks ago at the dentist office the hygienist kept repeating "Oh your teeth are going to be so sparkly and shiny, just like a princess." The assumption is largely that little girls aspire to be princesses.
*Everyone, I'm sorry for this rant. It's very possible that it's some parental insecurity sifting to the surface. And poor E's getting an extra does of 'neurotic-mama' because of it!