Moms with DD's this ones for you...

[Miss Park Avenue]

Ok, didn't mean to go so long and I hope I made sense. I guess my point is that we try to pull the good out of the princess movies and work them into lessons learned. I mean, all of our girls ARE princesses right? With such low self-esteem so many young ladies have these days, if we stress how special they are and how they need to wait on someone that RESPECTS them for who they are and not what they look like, the princesses can indeed become a great learning tool just like everything in this world...just depends on which angle you go with.

This was exactly what I was going to post. I've seen a number of my friends and relatives marry LOSERS and lead miserable lives because they had such low esteem, thinking this was the best they could get. My sil is going back and forth right now, trying to decide if she will divorce her husband who just cannot or will not stay faithful. He cheated when they were engaged.... What made her think things would get better once they married is beyond me.

I remember being enthralled with Sleeping Beauty dancing with her prince in the clouds. I watched Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella whenever it came on TV. My sister and I were into Barbies BIG time. But I was raised by a mother who taught me and my sister three things;

1. She told us that every day we were beautiful girls (her words...not mine) but what's more important is that we are beautiful inside.

2. Don't marry the first guy who takes a liking to you, take the rose colored glasses off first. It's better to be single and miserable than married and miserable. My poor sil is learning that now.

3. Make sure that the man who marries you treats you like royalty!

I'd like to think that, her advice helped us to both have healthy, happy marriages to our "princes"

So I have no problem with my girls loving the princess stories. When they become interested in boys, I will tell them that there is much more than the "happily ever after" endings. I hope that they have a proper view of themselves and realize they deserve a man who will treat them like a princess.

 

[miste76]

I myself have waited for my prince charming for all of my life (I'm almost 30 now)... the one man that I truly loved, to ride off into the sunset with!!! That said, I am a year away from my doctorates degree in dentistry (obviously, I wasn't waiting for Prince Charming to support me financially or emotionally!!!)

I have found a very special man now and I'm glad that I waited!!!!

 

[mommaU4]

Wow, it's great to read all these posts. I've gained some new insight to some of our fav princesses! As I said I love them all, and will continue to. I especially like Meg who has sort of a dry sarcastic sense of humor that I like and, IMHO, doesn't get enough recognition. Maybe because she wasn't really a princess because she was with Hercules. Hmmm...was she a goddess? Whatever.
I hope my twin 5 yr. old DDs continue to enjoy them although they are at this young age starting to be more and more into the Bratz dolls and less into the princess dolls. My 8 yr. old DD took her Snow White doll out of her dress and put on one of the Bratz outfits so now Snow White is "walking " around in a mini skirt and tank top!! If only her prince could see her now. Sorry, it just caught me by surprise when I saw it and it was a little funny. But I say long live the princesses!!

 

[Minnesota]

Easter Bunny to bring them college tuition under the pillows...

Boy would I love that easter bunny! I don't have children but I teach 1st and 5th graders. I think as long as you teach them to be self-dependant children they do fine. By this I am saying, teach them they need to have a formal education, a decent job, that they can be what ever they want to be, that they can be happy on their own or with someone, not just if they are married to a "prince" etc. Basically teach them to be themselves. Just MHO.

Minnesota

 

[erinch]

I was scrolling to the bottom to suggest the Paper Bag Princess, and saw someone got there before me.

My DD (now almost 9) loves the fantasy dress up, but we REALLY love the paper bag princess and my DD thinks she would be a great addition to the line-up.

I do thoroughly object to the over the top marketing of Princess gear to excited little girls. I priced out the a "wedding ensemble" for one of the princesses which cost about as much as the real things.

 

[GrimGhost]

OP: Please do not take offense. But I feel, it's this kind of OVER thinking that is screwing kids up. Parents (And I am one by the way) need to lighten up and not worry about every little thing. Kids are more resilient than we give them credit for.

 

[damom2daboyz]

I'm a mom to two DS and always worried, especially with my youngest DS, that they couldn't distinguish the fantasy from reality. Much to my surprise a couple of years ago, I can't remember the specific topic, but my youngest turned to me mid conversation and said, "oh, please mother, do you think i don't know the difference between fiction and what is real?" Well, I stood corrected. And as far as dressing up based on heros or princesses/heroines, my DS went to MNSSHP as William Wallace, a slight change from his former Buzz Lightyear Hero. Now when we watch movies we try to discuss underlying themes, he readily can see them in the Disney movies.
BTW, this is the same DS who readily tears up and "becomes all emotional" during WISHES because he "gets it".

 

[jann1033]

i grew up in the pre "pc" days of the 60s but i never ever thought i was unable to do anything without a"prince"... i loved to play dress up though which imo is the same as princess thing ..my eldest daughter ( 27) thought one of the nicest comments to her ever was when on her wedding day a friend told his little boy in reference to my daughter "look,that's what a princess looks like" so guess her "pc" age mind didn't feel insulted either

funny i didn't see b and b as that at all( the abusive thing)but more as how he was misunderstood and so developed a gruff exterior to " protect " himself (and i know plenty of people who really are like that )and took it as a good lesson not to quickly judge by appearances but look beyond the surface.

 

[jann1033]

room. However - she insisted that Kacey not paint the last scene with Snow White and the Prince on a white horse because as she told our whole class "that part is obviously bull (I can't post the rest on the dis)." I have never forgotten that!

now that's some lesson to pass on the unsuspecting kids

 

[bytheblood]

I think it depends on how you present it to your children. If you are molding your daughter to believe that she can only have the perfect man who has his own "castle" and who will be there at her call, then it is harmful. I don't believe for a second that you are doing that. It is okay to have some fairytale in your life as long as it is not clouding reality. Let your babies have their dreams, because these little precious gifts grow up too fast and learn things much to early.

I personally prefer that my daughter be all about the princesses instead of Bratz, Brittany Spears, etc. I find it holds her innocense in place. Nothing wrong with that.