Sad Day: DD6 embarrassed of princess things...

[Taja]

My BFF's DGD is 10--was 9.5 when she visited WDW for the first time last December. They live near Disneyland, so the Disney characters are very familiar to her. However, she never has been into the princesses. Her cousin, who is a year younger and much larger, has loved all things princess since birth (pretty close, anyway!). We speculate that she burned out on the princesses without ever going through that phase! When The Cheetah Girls came out in 2006 (or was it 2005?), she was into them and had several outfits her grandmother (my BFF) bought for her. She did subtle stuff, though--nothing that screamed "Cheetah Girls!"

Last December I bought her some 'Tink items--a small backpack (she's tiny for her age--about the size of a 6 or 7 year old), a pen, notebook, ruler--you get the idea--no clothing! I was looking for a sweatshirt or long-sleeved t-shirt, but couldn't find anything at a reasonable price. Reasonable to me, that is! $30 for a so-so fleece jacket (size 8 that was a bit large) that wouldn't fit the following year is a bit out of line for my budget. And living in a warm climate, there is limited wear for those items!

So Tinkerbell visited her every morning and left her a small gift. Many 'Tink related, some not. She was one excited young lady!

It would have been more fun for us if we could have gone the princess route--or pirates, for that matter--but the trip was for her. So we did what would make her happy!

 

[princesskimberella]

I have noticed the same thing with my girls, my youngest (5) still loves Tink, and my 6 year old has 1 HSM shirt and has left the princesses behind. Actaully right now they are really into The Muppets and still love all other things girly like dance and fuu fuu hair stuff.

 

[mandz]

Oh that is terrible. DD is 4 going 24 and I am dreading those days. She very much loves princesses still though and she turns five in aug. Our first trip is in sept. and though we will have a 9 month old we were not waiting another year for fear of the same. I blame Hannah Montana and HSm. I try to limit them even though they aren't "bad" they do have a much older feel that the little ones adopt all too early.

 

[twins2again]

I discourage my little girls from watching high school anything. I just dont feel 6 and 7 year old have anything in common with teenage stuff and I dont want them too yet. They grow up wayyy too fast as it is and dont need to think thats the way they should look and act. They are little for only ashort time. their world should be small and simple at that age and full of magic and wonder and fantasy or fairytale stuff.

 

[melancholywings]

DD 7 1/2 is still very much into Princesses but not always publically. It's so hard at that age, it seems like so many of her peers are into tween/teen stuff so early.
I thought she wouldn't want to do her princess dresses for our next trip, but she's been talking about who she's going to dress as. It's still months off and I'm not pressuring her. But I wouldn't be suprised if she has a change of heart about it.

 

[jennifer293]

OHHHHH I took DD (8 in 15 days) to the mall today for a pre-b-day shopping spree AKA school clothes.. We looked all around and Iasked her like what kind of stuff she thought she might like and she said it really doesn't matter as long as there are NO DISNEY CHARACTERS on them.... I about cried. Then she said she would also like to wear bras and deodorant this year..I wanted to ball up in a corner and BOOHOO the rest of the day!!!

 

[ajo66]

I discourage my little girls from watching high school anything. I just dont feel 6 and 7 year old have anything in common with teenage stuff and I dont want them too yet. They grow up wayyy too fast as it is and dont need to think thats the way they should look and act. They are little for only ashort time. their world should be small and simple at that age and full of magic and wonder and fantasy or fairytale stuff.

I'm so glad I am not the only one who feels this way!! My dds (7 and 9) sadly are not into princesses all that much anymore, but I'm hoping that WDW will bring it back - if only for the week we go! When they are home playing together, they still play "younger" - it's the outside influence from others that is tough to handle! I still bought them princess things - mostly for the "big reveal" when we tell them in a few weeks about our upcoming first trip this fall. We're planning a scavenger hunt or something similar and Target has been a great place for stuff like that. Our Disney store was almost empty when I went 3 weeks ago and things were only 20% off - I couldn't believe it. Anyway, I'm hoping to hold on to the Disney magic as long as possible!!

 

[tink2]

Yep, it happened to both ds and dd going into first grade. DS7 would not hear of a Mickey backpack for school- or even Cars for that matter. He did end up with a Cars lunchbox. We went to Disney in Jan and he did finally wear a few Disney shirts to school (besides scary pirates ones). He is definitely way too 'cool' to wear anything like that to school now though. Funny, at WDW, he only wanted to wear Disney shirts- and Mickey was his favorite! ha!
We just returned from a week at the beach. DD9 has always LOVED Tink- has her room in Tink (I'm waiting for her to ask to change that one). Anyway, while packing, she insisted that we not take her Tink beach towel- said that noone her age uses that kind of towel. We took it- I just refused, she has always loved Tink too much. But, she didn't use it - I didn't ask her to, just had it there in case. I used it instead a few days! She does love everything HM and HSM- I tried to avoid that as much as possible until 2nd or 3rd grade, then it was just impossible with the other girls.
I'm a second grade teacher, and yes, kids these days just grow up much too fast. None of my students ever come to school with Disney character stuff- just HM and HSM. You might have one or two Tink shirts every once in a while, but never Princesses or Mickey. To me it is sad. With our society, kids aren't allowed to really be 'kids' anymore....

 

[DesigningMouse]

My 7yr old is kind of on the border. She won't play w/her Princess dress up stuff anymore unless I bribe her to play w/her little sister (2yrs old) with them BUT she can't stop talking about how she can't wait to go to BBB. Go figure right? She's totally into Hannah Montana and High School Musical though.

 

[Carrie772]

You know whats great though? You get it all back once they are out of high school! Characters like Ariel, Belle and Jasmine come back to them as they finally see what great characters and memories they were. Characters like Hannah Montana die off, never to return, just a flash in the pan. So be grateful that when she's 20 and you gals are in the Magic Kingdom, you'll see her face light up again as she says "Mom, take my picture with Ariel!!"

It happened to me and my sister just like that! Went to WDW with our folks, I was 27, she was 20. When we saw Cinderella, we both got this goofy grin on our faces and just babbled to her about all kinds of stuff while she autographed a napkin for me and my sister's purse.

 

[amyj1024]

This is EXACTLY-EXACTLY why I insisted to my husband that we make it to Disney this year--and not a moment too soon, I guess!! My dd is 5 and she still likes the princesses, and Tink--but Kindergarten starts in Sept., we travel in October---I know I don't have much princess time left

 

[tink2]

This is EXACTLY-EXACTLY why I insisted to my husband that we make it to Disney this year--and not a moment too soon, I guess!! My dd is 5 and she still likes the princesses, and Tink--but Kindergarten starts in Sept., we travel in October---I know I don't have much princess time left

I agree- GO! We took dd when she was in K and 3rd grade- both trips were wonderful, but she was so in awe the year she was in k. Our last trip this past Jan., ds was in first grade and dd in 3rd. Thank goodness, they left all their 'coolness' at home. Once we hit WDW, they both turned back into our Disney loving, character loving kids and it was wonderful! I was so glad and relieved- especially dd. Now, when we got back, she told one of her friends at school that the trip was 'OK'- I about fell out of my chair and bust out laughing b/c that child had an absolute ball and smiled the whole trip- but too cool to admit it to her friend. That's ok- for that week- we had our kids back and they left all inhibitions at home. Now, I'm glad we did go this past year, I think dd knows in her heart that the characters aren't real- she just is so gullable and wants to believe in all of that. You could see a difference in her reaction from K to 3rd grade. Dh and I both agreed that this was our last trip in a long, long time. Financial situations have hit hard in the past 2 years and the kids are both old enough to figure the magic out. We will return one day, but we both wanted to get them there before they lost the magic of the characters and while they believed it was all completely real.
Have a magical trip- 5 is such a wonderful age for WDW!!!