Neither dolls nor barbies was my "thing" when I was a little girl. I remember playing G.I. Joe and pushing large trucks thru big piles dirt or whatever else my older brother would let me play with him. I don't remember watching princess movies or dressing up in gowns. Our dress up consisted of old curtains that my mom made into a bridal dress of some sort.
This is not the case with my three daughters. We have more dress up dresses and princess gowns in our costume trunk than I have dressy clothes in my own closet. Tim and I didn't intentionally introduce them to the world of Princess - it seems like they were born to love all things girly and pink and fairy-tale-ish.
It's been on more than one occasion where comments have been made to me about their so-called obsession with Princesses and for some reason I have always felt like maybe we were making a poor decision to allow them to watch the movies and play the dress up. Were we encouraging a dream of beautiful dresses, lives living in castles with a Prince Charming, voices that sing like angels, I think you get the picture.
Well, today I read a chapter from the book "Bringing up Girls" by Dr. James Dobson. I don't always agree with everything Dr. Dobson has to say, but I really like and agree with the things he had to say about the "princess world" (chapter 12).
Here are some of my favourites:
- being a princess honors girls and "girliness" and separates them from boys.
- girls want to be treated like they are something special and worthwhile.
- When a girl sees herself as a princess, she feels valued for who she is. She has the confidence to wait for Prince Charming and not settle for less.
-"they also promote femininity, kindness, courtesy, the work ethic, and service to others".
- traditional princess clothing encourages little girls to be children and is not blatantly sexualized.
So I'm going to continue to allow the Princess movies, and the early reader Ariel books, and the yellow frilly Belle gown, and the Cinderella glass slippers.
Saying all this though, my number one desire for my girls is that they would model themselves after the Proverbs 31 woman where I am reminded that "charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised" (vs. 30).
This is not the case with my three daughters. We have more dress up dresses and princess gowns in our costume trunk than I have dressy clothes in my own closet. Tim and I didn't intentionally introduce them to the world of Princess - it seems like they were born to love all things girly and pink and fairy-tale-ish.
It's been on more than one occasion where comments have been made to me about their so-called obsession with Princesses and for some reason I have always felt like maybe we were making a poor decision to allow them to watch the movies and play the dress up. Were we encouraging a dream of beautiful dresses, lives living in castles with a Prince Charming, voices that sing like angels, I think you get the picture.
Well, today I read a chapter from the book "Bringing up Girls" by Dr. James Dobson. I don't always agree with everything Dr. Dobson has to say, but I really like and agree with the things he had to say about the "princess world" (chapter 12).
Here are some of my favourites:
- being a princess honors girls and "girliness" and separates them from boys.
- girls want to be treated like they are something special and worthwhile.
- When a girl sees herself as a princess, she feels valued for who she is. She has the confidence to wait for Prince Charming and not settle for less.
-"they also promote femininity, kindness, courtesy, the work ethic, and service to others".
- traditional princess clothing encourages little girls to be children and is not blatantly sexualized.
So I'm going to continue to allow the Princess movies, and the early reader Ariel books, and the yellow frilly Belle gown, and the Cinderella glass slippers.
Saying all this though, my number one desire for my girls is that they would model themselves after the Proverbs 31 woman where I am reminded that "charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised" (vs. 30).
1 comment:
Love the picture of your girls. So sweet.
I was just about to write a post about teaching Noah about being a boy and what it means to be a boy and not a girl. Interesting. :)
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