Princess Kick-Butt

I read this article about parents who want to stomp out the princess mentality and was quite perturbed by what was said.

I guess I could somewhat understand these parents. Before I had three little girls of my own, I thought, in my arrogance and foolishness, that if I ever had a girl she wouldn't wear pink, play with Barbies, or watch princess movies. And she most definitely won't decorate her room in a princess theme or wear Disney princess clothes.

Yeah, well, I got over it. I grew up and realized girls are girls. I have three of them who love nothing better than dresses that twirl around them as they dance. And I can often find all three of them, wearing sundresses, as they search for toads and slugs and worms and play in the mud in the backyard. They climb trees and wrestle and dream of being pirates or ninjas or faeries or kittens.

Yesterday, two of them had out their toy swords, fighting the neighbor boys with their nerf guns. They like to watch Disney princess movies, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and anything about animals. They love all animals and bugs and study science and explore their world.

We just painted Makani's room purple. We're going to decorate it with sea turtles. And we painted Kaylee & Rowena's room pink. We'll decorate with rainbows. And some nights, I make up stories about three little princesses who climb out of the castle wall and ride their ponies into great adventures. We read stories about princesses with sass like The Princess and the Pizza or about princesses with gumption like Princesses are Not Quitters.

And someday we will read The Little Princess, a story about a girl from a rich family who falls on hard times. Her father always told her she was his little princess, and now that she is all alone and treated as a slave, she finds the courage and the hope and the imagination to keep going. Because she believes that all girls are princesses. No matter what their station, she treats everyone with kindness like a princess should.

So this is what those three little girls have taught me about princesses:

• Girls are princesses. That's just the way it is.
• Princesses are adventurers.
• Princesses are innovators.
• Princesses explore.
• Princesses never quit.
• Princesses are courageous.
• Princesses are warriors.
• Princesses care about others.

So tell me again? Why don't we want our girls to be princesses?

I've never been into poetry, but author Michele Torrey has a brilliant poem, entitled Princess on her blog. It reminds me of my own childhood adventures, exploring and playing and pretending grand stories where I was the princess. Please check it out. Enjoy.