Flashback Friday

It all started last year, she was only two years old and loved everything princess, doesn't every little girl? So we bought her a Disney princess movie and were excited about... well let's face it... how excited she was at the time. Life was good.

Later that evening, Dad just got home and we were sitting down eating dinner together. It was all quite cozy and then it happened... the sun went down immediately, the lights flickered, and then out of her mouth came THE WORDS... "Dad, you are ruining my life," and then she covered her eyes with her tiny hands and then exasperated, she slammed her head & hands on the table. What was dear old dad doing to RUIN a 2 yr old life, you ask... he simply told her to eat her vegetables. I had to cover my face with my napkin & then step out of the room to hide my laughter. Normally I wouldn't think this attitude was funny but well let's face it... it wasn't directed at me and it was over veggies. Once she actually tasted them she ate all of them but we did have to deal with the drama first. After things cooled down, he came back to the table and my poor bewildered husband asked where his innocent little girl learned such a hate-filled statement.

I hated to deflate our balloon full of happiness but I had to be the bearer of bad news... it was Disney. I'm not knocking Disney, after all they have made some of my all-time favorite movies. But as we both already knew our daughter was in the middle of her "Mimic" stage, she would repeat everything she heard and saw throughout the day. She would take it all in and then apply it within the next few days... it was always easy to tell what those around us were up to just by watching our daughter. She was amazing. So like she did with everything else, she watched the show then played it out. I had to explain to Corey what happened in the movie; Miss Princess wasn't allowed to marry the one she wanted because he wasn't a prince, so she told her dad that he was ruining her life. As I was replaying the movie for him, I was still laughing and enjoying myself a little too much. I explained to him, hey we gotta give her credit she totally used it in the correct context .

We still watch Disney, but we decided to shelf the princess movies for a few years. We aren't ready for the drama, the temper tantrums and ughhhh... the whining. The Princess movies have great moral stories to teach but for now we'll find another way for her to learn them, without the baggage.