Finally started reading a book. I really enjoy reading books. I love getting sucked into a fiction story but this Cinderella book (not fiction) came up on my radar. Since I happen to see it at the library, I rented it. Typical me, I started reading it when it was already overdue but luckily they let me renew it. I'm still only half way but I'm really enjoying the read.
I feel like I should be taking notes, the author discusses the "princess" story from every angle, Disney marketing, the history of the stories themselves, the psychology and implications of having a "pink" and "blue" type culture. Its really interesting. I'm feeling like I need to come up with my own parenting philosophy. Normally I hate when people come up with a particular parenting philosophy b/c I think its so grandiose and ridiculous. I mean isn't every situation different? Aren't you an active participant in your own circumstances, can't you judge for yourself? The reality is that I have more than one child, children of both genders and I don't parent alone. Pretty sure its going to get harder to filter out the stuff I don't like, in the interest of being consistent for my children and as part of a parent team we should come up with some rules but I'm going to wait until I finish the book to figure them out.
So far we've tried to keep the princess stuff out of the house. Anything princess that my daughter has was given to her as a gift (a musical book from her uncle, a beach towel from grandma, one Snow White dress from a grand aunt, plus some goody bag trinkets). My husband wants all the princess stuff out even if its a gift but is it fair that my son can have an entire fleet of Lightning McQueen cars and Thomas trains while my daughter gets some replacement toy she doesn't really want?
For the most part, she doesn't care about the princesses although she doesn't want anything taken away. We've been OK with Dora the Explorer but even she is getting more princess-esque. Once preschool started my daughter was more aware of the princesses and seemed to want princess products (Band-aids are coming to mind) but its pretty easy to steer her to something else. Even of the stuff that has made it through the front door she rarely plays with it. Her interest went up a notch after we were invited to a princess birthday party but even that has faded. Back in the winter after the birthday party I was trying to figure out my own dislike of the princesses. Why do these princesses seem so sinister to me? How come I am not equally turned off by all the marketing for the boy products? (I actually think I was just as opposed but then the car collection wore me down). I thought the biggest thing I disliked about the Disney princesses is the marketing and branding of everything (I really mean EVERYTHING) and how its so targeted to my toddler! I decided to get a non-Disney fairy tale book and get the "real" story. Since she already had the dress, I picked Snow White first. Awful!! Vane women trying to kill the competition, along with several other awful subliminal messages. Absolutely nothing was worthwhile in the story. Hate the story, hate the marketing, still trying to figure out where I stand and what to do for my own daughters.
No comments:
Post a Comment