Today is my little princess's birthday. Up unil about Christmas we had been able to shy her away from all Disney movies. In fact she had never even seen a movie until Christmas. (That's a lie for Christmas of 2006 a friend bought her Wiggle Bay. I don't call that a movie even though she loved it) Call it what you want, I was a real snob when it came to the Princess crap. You don't need a prince to make you happy, you define life and reach your dreams, yada yada yada. As Mark would say more woman hoha from my http://www.momsrising.org/. (BTW you should check it out, enlighten, empower and make a change)
The problem is that my kid eats this princess stuff up. For months we have been stuck reading Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and so on. (although we just got the Frog Prince and I love it) Night after night of me pretending to be Anastasia, poor Tessa is the bitter Drizella, and Daddy must be the Grand Duke and the Prince while our princess sits waiting for her plastic high healed dollar store glass slipper to be put on her "dainty foot", her words not mine.
We gave in....she got the Cinderella and Snow White movie alla Disney. (I might add that we did try reading the Brothers Grimm versions of these tales. Not the best idea if your kid attends daycare. I overheard Tegan with her dolls talking about the huntsman taking someone into the woods and taking a knife to her. YES, this came from books not TV I swear!)
When do I let her chose and decide? Will I always be there putting my shit on her??? Or maybe Disney is poisoning by brain. I hear it in the back ground (she usually watches while I must clean) I think I sing some of the songs during day! Help me. But it gives me a happy feeling in a sad sappy sort of way. Maybe just maybe Disney is empowering towards women. Follow your dreams, think big! There is that one soul mate out there searching for you. If you don't find him, you can always sleep for 100 years.
And really isn't life about true love anyway. (be it with your significant other or children? )
Would I be happy if I hadn't found my one and only to spend the rest of my life with? Probably not. He is my prince I suppose, and I am not sure where my life would be with out him. Is that such a bad thing to promote? Or is it really just some over educated wanna be uber chic urban professional have to have it all mama thinking her kid is too good for some trendy hogwash that all the other kids are doing.
So I did it, I walked into the gates of hell. The disney store! I bought Cinderella flip flops, sunglasses and a Jasmine doll. Its not for me, its for her. Her choice to chose her likea no matter what I think. AND its her birthday for Christ's sake. Of course she loved them......................
Until Jasmine's cheap plastic head fell off in the first 10 minutes. HMMM Death to Disney?
3 comments:
You are so insighful!!!!
I'm glad I have boys, simply because I totally didn't want to deal with the "princess phenomenon". I want to give my kids what they want, and allow them to be into whatever they are into - but there are some things that just make me go UUUUUGH. It's hard NOT to try to instill your own views and likes onto your kid. I try to deflect things like Spiderman, Transformers, and all that stuff from my kids because (as I see it) they will have plenty of time when they get older to get into that stuff if they choose. It's inevitable. At the ages of 6 and 2 1/2, I think they are just a bit too young for some of the "aggro" of it all....and luckily they are none the wiser about it. We have our own things they are obsessed with though that we allow/enjoy/tolerate that other parents might now (ie: Spongebob, Nintendo) so, to each his own, right?
In theory, I've always been anti-Disney and anti-princess crap. But now I've accepted that there is no avoiding it. It is everywhere. So I've decided just to not make a big deal out of it. If she likes it - fine. If not - woohoo! I'm choosing to believe that she will take heart in how she sees mommy and daddy living not just the Disney movie crap. I often wonder what happened to the almost militant feminist I was in college. Guess it doesn't survive in the real world. Hehe.
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