With this week's much heralded re-release of Disney's Sleeping Beauty, Princess Aurora is sure to win over another generation of little girls, just in time for the Halloween costume rush. What's a parent to do? We know that most of our kids just can't resist the allure of those Disney dames strutting their stuff, so we developed our own Princess Counter-Programming, which we share with you this week.
Click here to visit our website and find a book list that serves up a batch of princesses whom reject daft suitors and ditsy life goals. Please share what you do in your houses to make sure your princess-wanna-bes have girl power goals.
To Listen to a podcast of this posting, please press the green arrow below.
5 comments:
Thank you for the tips and ideas! Just one mom's story - last Halloween my daughter was the fairy godmother to the neighborhood princesses. She was beautiful and played her role well! Anything we can do to encourage our daughters to think beyond media messages is well worth it.
Growing up with a bunch of brothers - I honestly don't remember much princess mania unfortunately, but I LOVED the American Girl dolls (I followed the crowd and had Samantha haha) I even dressed up like her for Halloween one year too.
http://www.wherefamiliesconnect.com
Google the "Anti-Princess" reading list. A great selection of books with girls who also choose their own paths. We also talk about the nice characteristics of a princess and a prince and how the stories are more about the way they behave nicely to each other and their animal friends, than about the fairy tale.
Although I let the girls watch traditional princess movies, we push things like Fiona from "Shrek", and when it's story time and they want princess stories like "The Princess and the Pea" or "Snow White" it becomes a lot more about having a thinking, proactive woman who is not just waiting with the "Someday my prince will come" mindset. With the stories listed above, for example, it becomes about how she tested the prince just as much to make sure that he was everything she wanted, as well.
Heh. My seven year old is dressing up as Buffy the Vampire Slayer this year! Some of us argue whether or not Buffy is appropriate for seven year olds, or whether she presents as positive an image as we would like, but she is, mostly, a pretty strong woman, and we're glad that our daughter wants to be Buffy instead of Sleeping Beauty.
Post a Comment