Fighting off a princess invasion

I spent a recent morning with Kate in the children’s section of a local bookstore. The outing reinforced what I already suspected: Disney has a not-so-secret ploy to turn young girls into love-struck teenagers before they’re old enough to know that boys are different from girls.

Kate stood in front of the princess section wide-eyed and slack-jawed, pulling every book and doll from the shelves.

“Mommy, look at this,” she’d say reverently.

Kate insisted I read one particular book to her. As I flipped the pages, I realized that each story was a continuation of a well-known Disney story like Little Mermaid, Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. The kicker was that these stories were about the preparations for each princesses wedding — how beautiful the bridesmaid dresses were, how gorgeous the bride was, how handsome the prince, how perfect the kiss was.

I turned the book over and saw that it was for ages two and up.

This is what our culture teaches our girls, even those as young and tender as two years old. I saw how Kate’s eyes lit up at the array of pink, purple and satin adorning the shelves.

Lucky for me, she thinks anyone in a dress is a princess (including me in a nightgown), and she likes the princess wands that make noise. But seeing how Disney has infiltrated every corner of childhood, it won’t be long before she understands that the whole point of these princesses is to be beautiful and find a handsome prince.

Statistically speaking, my girls probably will get married. And I hope they do find their “prince charming” one day, but there are other things I want more. I want them to not remember a day when they didn’t know Jesus. I want them to grow up to be kind, brave and passionate about their beliefs and their dreams. I want them to work hard at their hobbies and skills. I want them to believe in themselves and to know that their mom and dad believe in them too. And I want to preserve their innocence as long as I can.

That means many things, not least of which is to steer Kate away from the princess wall as much as I can.

When we got home from the bookstore, I took her on a walk up to the creek on our street. As she filled her pockets with rocks and sticks and jumped in mud puddles on the side of the road, I breathed a little easier. She may be enamored with pretty girls in shiny dresses, but she’s also a rough-and-tumble kid who doesn’t mind getting dirty.

I’m sure we have years of princess infatuation to come (we have two young daughters, after all), but as long as we can ensure that Kate and Sela know they are much more than a pretty face, I can handle picking up tiny glass slippers and glittery tiaras at the end of every day.

I’ll also make sure they have plenty of time to pick up sticks, find mud puddles and enjoy being a kid.

Lauren can be reached at LaurenKDenton@gmail.com.