Need Your Thoughts! 3 Year Old Little Boy who LOVES Cinderella

[WaltD4Me]

My nephew just turned three last week and he has been in this Cinderalla/Princess phase for a few months now and it's starting to freak his parents out a little.

First, he is the cutest little guy, he is even doing some package modeling for Little Tykes and Step 2 products. He is really good and has a great disposition. The thing is though, he LOVES Cinderalla...and the other princesses too, but mostly Cinderalla. He loves to watch the movie and if you take him to the Disney store he runs right to the princess section. I took him to Toys R Us and they have a HUGE Cinderealla display right in front because of the DVD coming out and all he wanted to do was look in that section. When I take him to the bookstore he always wants to buy a princess book
and for his birthday, my sister got him the Little People castle play set and he had no interest in
anything else he got. In fact, once he opened it, he didn't want to open anything else! -- I know you may be wondering why my sister even got it for him, but it isn't girly, the castle is grey "stone" and the set comes with a knight and a dragon and a horse and a king and queen. He loves it and plays with it all the time.

I know, I know, he's only three and I keep telling my brother this, but even now I have to admit, he seems a little "obsessed." He put a pair of my mom's shoes on the other day at her house and was walking around saying they were his glass slippers. and sometimes he walks around singing Biddi-Boddidy-Boo.

We went to Disney in December of 2004 and he
absolutely loved it and still talks about it and asks when we are going again, he loves looking at the photo album from the trip and always goes right to the pages of pictures from the Cinderalla dinner we went to at Grand Floridian. I don't know if something there made an impression on him or what, but he loves those pictures.

What do you think? Anybody else have a little guy with a thing for the princesses? Any idea how to get him interested in Bob the Builder?

 

[krismom]

My three year old son is going as Dora for halloween. Wig and all. I couldn't talk him out of it- the photos will be great to use against him later in life I suppose!

 

[asktriplets]

nothing wrong with it in my mind....

my little guy (almost 3) used to like wearing the belle dress while his sisters wore the ariel and tinkerbelle dresses (he still does, sometimes, but is phasing out of ANY kind of interest in playing dress up ). we have girls and a boy the same age, and let me tell you, when you compare the boy dress up options to the girls' options, there is NO comparison!!!..."girl" costumes are sparkly and glittery with lots of fun ribbons and bows. "boy" costumes are pretty plain.

also, in our house, we really downplay most of the boy roles in lots of disney movies...hate the violence of peter pan/prince eric/prince phillip fighting, so we fast forward these scenes in the movies. my son doesn't really see a lot of the boy roles in these movies, so of course he won't want to emulate them!

honestly, i was more freaked out by the fact that one of my girls looked at blue and pink magnadoodles last night in a catalog and told me that the pink one was "only" for girls and the blue one was "only" for boys than i EVER would be bothered by my son wanting to wear "princess hair" (in our house, that means hair in sparkly clips) or my high heels. but that's just my feminist self...

what about buying/making a sparkly, pretty prince costume? my mom did this for my son (he's still not interested, though), and it turned out great...silky blue tunic and cape with sparkly gold trim and belt. the cape is really swishy, too, so it looks like a dress when he spins when dancing. maybe someday he'll like it. heck, maybe my girls will want to play the "prince" sometime!

in general (not talking about you or your family...sounds like nephew's mom is supporting his interest), i'm not sure it's fair to encourage kids to use their imaginations, and create and role play and pretend, but then expect them to do this within the limits that WE define (if one of my kids can pretend to be an adult in a magical land with a dragon for a pet, who am i to say that they can't also pretend to be a different gender??...just as much of a stretch from reality, is it not?).


off my soapbox now....

i recognize that you didn't say it was a HUGE deal for anyone, but i'm just letting you know there are other little guys out there who wear dresses and other parents out there who don't worry about it.

have fun!

 

[mjkaferle5]

I think your nephew is still young enough and innocent enough to just enjoy something simply because he likes it. Children that age don't have to deal with peer pressure or worry about what others think of them. In other words, he will be fine. His parents are probably just freaking out because they are old enough to have their thinking tainted by peer pressure etc. If all of us could have the thinking of a toddler throughtout life, the world would be a much better place!!

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

he sounds like a sweetheart! I see no difference in this than when girls are boyish acting. I think the only time it becomes a worrysome issue is when parents overthink it. Just let what will happen, happen. IMO, Things usually work out the way they are meant too.

 

[TinkerbellMama]

My nephew just turned three last week and he has been in this Cinderalla/Princess phase for a few months now and it's starting to freak his parents out a little.

What do you think? Anybody else have a little guy with a thing for the princesses? Any idea how to get him interested in Bob the Builder?

My honest opinion? Your family sounds a little homophobic (not flaming here...but that is the word for it!) and seems to be overreacting just a smidge. Hey, I'm being totally straight with you here!

But seriously...why is it such a big deal that he loves Cinderella? My ds, 11 months, has always loved Tigger...but if it had been Cinderella, then by gosh I'd get him some Cinderella toys/clothing and encourage him to tell me what it is he likes about her, and read him the story over and over...etc. It's truly not a big deal to me.

IMHO the bigger issues are gender role stereotyping in the family (not good!) and the fact that obviously people would be upset if he turned out to be gay. That's the implication, right? If you are all so worried that he might actually be gay, then the thing to do IMO is to read up on the subject and get informed and prepared to help him deal with the ignorance he will likely encounter throughout his life from people who think there is something horrific about loving the "wrong" person/people. He would certainly need your support. Dh's foster brother (with the family a long time, age 16) came out last week and when dh heard about it, he told MIL to tell Donnie he has our support (we haven't seen him yet but when we do this weekend, we'll tell him that ourselves). IMO this is the way it should be. You accept your children/family members/friends for who and what they are and do the best to love them even if they are not the people you fantasized about.

OR, you could just accept that sometimes little boys enjoy Cinderella and it likely has absolutely nothing to do with his sexual orientation!

 

[KristiKelly]

I wouldn't worry about it. My DS went through pretty crazy phases as well. When he was 3 he was big into SuperMan, even told people that he met his name was Clark Kent. We went out to eat once and he insisted on wearing a button down shirt, bow tie and blazer over his Superman costume. While at the restaurant, he said he had to go to the bathroom so DH took him, while in there, he took his shirt, tie & blazer off and came out as Superman.

Then a year later (4 y/o) he was obsessed with Elvis. He knew every song, had every CD, would sing them at preschool. He had a white sequined jumpsuit. Wanted to dye his blonde hair black, etc. This phase lasted 6-8 months.

Then he moved onto his snake phase I had to put my foot down when he asked for a real snake. He would dress up like Steve Erwin (The Croc Hunter) and do little skits accent and all with his rubber snakes.

Anyway, all of his phases ended. He's now 8 going on 16. Is too cool for anything like that now. As worrisome as the stages sometimes were, I wish he could/would go back to that innocense again. Tell your family not to worry, it will end and then you will get a big laugh out of it and want to have it back.

 

[100AcreWood]

There was an article in Parenting magazine last month about this topic so it must be fairly common. It was written by a Dad from the perspective that he learned a lot from his dress-wearing son. And the boy was around 5 if I remember correctly. He eventually stopped wearing dresses because he sort of grew out of it but mostly realized boys don't wear dresses. But it was great because the Dad supported him even when he wanted to wear a dress to the hardware store. And was patient with him while he tested out something new. In the end the Dad was glad he let his son make the decision to stop wearing the dresses.

 

[J. Galt]

I have a nephew just like this. Loves pink (its his favorite color), wanted a tea set for his birthday, etc.... He is 5 now and is starting to outgrow this, I suppose. In my opinion, it is only because his older brother is telling him that princesses aren't "cool" and the other little 5 year old boys he plays with aren't interested in them at all. He was dead set against eating with the princesses on our upcoming trip. I talked to him a little bit about it and explained that it was only eating with them, he didn't have to marry them or anything. Well, he called me a couple of days later, all by himself (my sister didnt' even know he had called) to tell me that he had changed his mind and did want to eat with the princesses. He used his cousin (my 3 year old daughter) as his excuse, saying he just wanted to go because he knew she wanted to go. It was kind of sad because you could tell the little guy really wanted to go, but he was feeling kind of embarrassed about the whole thing.

In my opinion, they grow up pretty fast and as long as it isn't dangerous, age-inappropriate or hurting anyone, you should just indulge their little quirks. There are a lot worse things that little boys could be interested in, afterall.

 

[Sleeping~Beauty]

When I taught pre-school, it was really common for the boys to go to the more traditional "girl" toys (kitchen, doll, carriages) and the girls to go to the traditional "boy" toys (tools, cars). They liked to play and explore things that were different from what they had at home.

Pre-schoolers love role playing and fantasy, and delving into new things. They don't have the filters that grown-ups have, fortunately.

Your little one sounds so precious.

 

[pearlieq]

My honest opinion? Your family sounds a little homophobic (not flaming here...but that is the word for it!) and seems to be overreacting just a smidge. Hey, I'm being totally straight with you here!

But seriously...why is it such a big deal that he loves Cinderella? My ds, 11 months, has always loved Tigger...but if it had been Cinderella, then by gosh I'd get him some Cinderella toys/clothing and encourage him to tell me what it is he likes about her, and read him the story over and over...etc. It's truly not a big deal to me.

IMHO the bigger issues are gender role stereotyping in the family (not good!) and the fact that obviously people would be upset if he turned out to be gay. That's the implication, right? If you are all so worried that he might actually be gay, then the thing to do IMO is to read up on the subject and get informed and prepared to help him deal with the ignorance he will likely encounter throughout his life from people who think there is something horrific about loving the "wrong" person/people. He would certainly need your support. Dh's foster brother (with the family a long time, age 16) came out last week and when dh heard about it, he told MIL to tell Donnie he has our support (we haven't seen him yet but when we do this weekend, we'll tell him that ourselves). IMO this is the way it should be. You accept your children/family members/friends for who and what they are and do the best to love them even if they are not the people you fantasized about.

OR, you could just accept that sometimes little boys enjoy Cinderella and it likely has absolutely nothing to do with his sexual orientation!

What I would have said, but better.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

Just look at my user name and I'll give you 2 guesses as to who picked it- DS2!!!!!! He will probably faint out of sheer joy when we go to CRT later this month and he gets to see her in person!
He also loves Dora- but Elmo, Barney, Bob Builder and Thomas the Train too!

 

[minkydog]

My DS19 went through this same stage, only it was with Ariel. Lord have mercy! I had to sing "Under The Sea" every night for a year to get him to go to sleep. He had a long red petticoat that he wore on his head and pretended it was her hair. I know there were certain family members who were "concerned", but we weren't. I figured there was just something about Ariel that appealed to him. About the time he entered 1st grade peer pressure intervened and he lost interest in "girl stuff."

Now he's an actor, has girls falling all over him, and has a voice like Barry White.

 

[ShellyL]

When we at WDW 2 weeks ago we had our 5 children with us. Our oldest is a DS that is 12. he had LOVED girls since he was about 3. When we were there 2 weeks ago we went to the StoryBook Dinner in Norway. Now my 2 DD's 3 and 6 just loved the fact we were going there. My 2 DS's 8 and 10 weren't real keen about this. In fact my DS 8 sat under the table every time a Princess came by. Now my Ds 12 was right up adn smiling getting pictures taken and loving it. Well there was a boy about 7 with just his mother at that dinner and he was as bad as my DS 12 to get up and smile and get his picture taken with everyone of those Princesses. My DS 12's comment was "Now that 's a real man!" My point is maybe he jsut sees them as beautiful girls. What is wrong with that. You can't get all worried over this type of thing. My DD 6 didn't want any of the princess stuff while we were there in MK all she wanted was a sword from POC. Go figure that. Sorry this was so all over the place but when you have 5 children you see alot!
Michele

 

[susykt4]

My almost 3-yr-old son thinks "getting dressed" means putting on a dress. He loves wearing his sister's princess dress-up clothes. He also love to wear dresses outside to play with his trucks in the dirt pile. When we go to Target he shrieks like a little girl at the princess section. At this point, DH and I think it's hilarious and can't wait to use the photo of Logan in a frilly pink dress sitting on the lawn tractor as blackmail when he's a teen.

 

[littleshamrock]

I didn't even read the replies on this, sorry if I'm repeating...

I honestly don't think that a three year old knows what a boy should do and a girl should do. He likes what he likes. My son is obsessed with bowling, of all things, and we let it go at that. My boyfriend would not be too happy with the whole princess thing, but I wouldn't let it bother me a bit. Kids aren't preprogrammed to know what's masculine and what's feminie, and God only knows what makes their little minds tick. Something about Cinderella just sparked his imagination, and that's all. I don't think there's anything wrong with that...
~*~Mary Beth~*~

 

[scouthawkk]

My DS3 fell in love with Cinderella this summer. He was so upset when it was time to come back home, knowing he wouldn't see her again for 2 years. He cried and cried. He never asks when we are going to see Mickey again...only Cinderella. It got to the point that for his 3rd b-day last month "Cinderella" sent him a present. I printed out the picture of him sitting with her on her thrown and signed it with her name. Put it in a frame and bought a birthday card and wrote a little note from her about how much she enjoyed meeting him, and was looking forward to seeing him again in 2 years. Fortunately all I had to do was put his name on the outside of the package and give it to him (he doesn't fully understand about how the mail thing works). He loves the special b-day gift from Cinderella. It is sitting on the bookshelf next to his bed, and he blows her a kiss every night (now he doesn't ask when he gets to go to her castle anymore-saved my sanity). He says Cinderella is his girlfriend (although, I think the cute little girl in his daycare class is quickly becoming a replacement).

Oh, and by the way, we went through the Bob The Builder phase...I'd take Cinderella over Bob any day. Much less annoying!

 

[Bama mom to 3]

Last night while talking to my children about what character meals we are gonna do (they each get to pick one) my 4 year old DS was the first to excitely yell "CINDERELLA!" He wants to eat with Cinderella more than Mickey mouse. So thats who he poicked. Of course my only dd was happy cause that means 2 princess meals....LOL while my oldest ds wasn't too happy about it, but he will just have to get over it.

 

[minkydog]

My DS3 fell in love with Cinderella this summer. He was so upset when it was time to come back home, knowing he wouldn't see her again for 2 years. He cried and cried. He never asks when we are going to see Mickey again...only Cinderella. It got to the point that for his 3rd b-day last month "Cinderella" sent him a present. I printed out the picture of him sitting with her on her thrown and signed it with her name. Put it in a frame and bought a birthday card and wrote a little note from her about how much she enjoyed meeting him, and was looking forward to seeing him again in 2 years. Fortunately all I had to do was put his name on the outside of the package and give it to him (he doesn't fully understand about how the mail thing works). He loves the special b-day gift from Cinderella. It is sitting on the bookshelf next to his bed, and he blows her a kiss every night (now he doesn't ask when he gets to go to her castle anymore-saved my sanity). He says Cinderella is his girlfriend (although, I think the cute little girl in his daycare class is quickly becoming a replacement).

Oh, and by the way, we went through the Bob The Builder phase...I'd take Cinderella over Bob any day. Much less annoying!

That is so sweet!

We had a surprise birthday party once, with Ninja Turtle plates and decorations. When DS, then 4, saw it he was convinced the Turtles had come up out of the man-hole that was at the end of our driveway and entered our dining room while he was napping, and left the cake and presents! WE didn't tell him all this, HE had the whole story. After that, every time we passed a sewer or a manhole, DS would have to lean over and yell out to Michaelangelo or Raphael, thanking them for the birthday party.

 

[pweyl36]

your dn sounds just like my son.he'll be 4 on the 22nd,and all ready told me
what bratz doll he wants.he loves to wear his sisters cinderella dress,and her
high heel shoes. he loves all the princess[jazmine his favorite].my husband is kind of ok with it as long as its in the house.the only thing he plays with is my dd's bratz and barbie dolls.iam ok with it,when he's older i will be able to
show his girl friend the pictures of ds playing with dolls.so what if he likes cinderella,it just means he likes pretty ladies.