I also find the princess stuff disturbing. The amount if marketing aimed at 3 year olds is insane! I mean really, should our DDs be that conscious of their clothes at this age?! My DS isn't, but he isn't bombarded with it either.

Any number of studies have shown the negative effects of mass marketing aimed at our young girls: lower self esteem, self consciousness, focus on the material and appearance, less creativity. One study asked preschoolers what they wanted to be for a day. The boys answered with all kinds of creative wild ideas, a car, a tree, a fireman, a spider... The girls? Well they had a total of TWO stereotypical answers: princess and fairy. Disturbing!

Read Cinderella Ate My Daughter.

There is nothing "creative" about being spoon fed a pink princess lifestyle at age 3-5. Then Disney switches to the Fairy marketing and everything is blue and green for ages 5-7. I wish more parents paid attention to the impacts of mass marketing on their children, especially their girls! Princess makeup kits for 3 year olds?! Get them at your nearest Target.

Seriously, you really don't have a problem with a toy company having that much influence over your daughter?

How about the amount of time and energy she is spending on playing princess? When she could be outside, or doing art, or reading with you about thanksgiving.

I see zero value in princess play. Although the toy companies certainly value it!

Anonymous wrote:OP - I hear you, I have a 3y and an 18mo and since #1 hit preschool every week something changes (she learned the word princess, announced that pink and purple are her favorite colors, saying things are "so cute".....ehhhhh........) I did not grow up like that, I am having trouble keeping up with this and I also have a negative reaction towards anything princess......it reads entitled rich person to me.

So, while I'm just entering the phase, I do recognize the wisdom to not fight it but to control what you buy and what you let into your house. And I've signed her up for sports, got a soccer goal for the backyard and some little lax sticks. Wishful thinking, I know........

Not the OP, but your experience sounds a lot like mine. I don't like the princess crap and it's fine if she DD wants to talk about it, pretend play etc. But I am not buying her any of the merchandise. And we don't really do tv anyway so she has never seen the movies. She just has a bday and asked for a princess doll house that a friend of hers has. Instead I bought her a gender neutral, natural wood doll house (that her younger brother loves too). She loves the dollhouse and is fine with us not buying the commercial driven merchandise.

Can I just add that Sofia the First is pretty good, LOVE the voice of Tim Gunn.

Anonymous wrote:Pp here, that should be Disney once a year, sorry.

That is okay.

You are way too logical and sensible for this thread anyway, so we will forgive one autocorrect typo

Pp here, that should be Disney once a year, sorry.

For the life of me, I cannot really figure out what is wrong with a little girl wanting to be a princess. I wanted to be a princess, ballerina, an astronaut, a basketball player, a mommy, and a lot of other things. I was brought up on the Disney movies and I can't say that I ever once thought that my appearance needed to be like a princess, or that I needed to be rescued. I have two dd's, ages 5.5 and 2. The 2 year old is obsessed with princesses and the older girl never really got into it. This despite going to Disney once a war and watching almost all of the movies at one point or another. I want them to be aware of the things around them, use their imaginations to be a princess if they want to, be aware that there are lots of other things that they can play with and do with themselves. But seriously, if the 2 yr old occupies herself and us by dancing in her princess dress for a half hour, I am thrilled that she is happy and busy. I am fairly sure they will grow up with a broader realization of what it means to be a woman.

OP - I hear you, I have a 3y and an 18mo and since #1 hit preschool every week something changes (she learned the word princess, announced that pink and purple are her favorite colors, saying things are "so cute".....ehhhhh........) I did not grow up like that, I am having trouble keeping up with this and I also have a negative reaction towards anything princess......it reads entitled rich person to me.

So, while I'm just entering the phase, I do recognize the wisdom to not fight it but to control what you buy and what you let into your house. And I've signed her up for sports, got a soccer goal for the backyard and some little lax sticks. Wishful thinking, I know........

The things I don't like about most Princess stuff:

The top two reasons are--

1. Physically, the Disney girls are all the same with little variation. We know that the more kids see of one physical image, they more they think they need to look like that. I prefer a bit of this and a bit of that, in near equal measure.

2. Emphasis on clothes and fashion over almost everything else.

**************

3. Princesses need to DO SOMETHING. Not just be done to or plan parties or dance around in the daisies. The more modern princesses are addressing this problem.

4. A certain cattiness prevails, especially in the spin-off stuff. Yeah, sure, the princess needs to "solve the problem of a bitchy friend" but meanwhile my kid is watching 95% of the show demonstrating bitchy behavior, with the happy ending taking up, oh, the last five minutes? Meh.

5. Generally, a lack of diversity. Again, the more modern princesses are addressing this problem.

6. Not particularly creative or intellectual (even for a 4 or 5 year old). Maybe if the princesses were more into solving interesting problems or inventing stuff? I don't mean it has to be stuffy... just interesting and motivating in a different way.

No, not really.

I thought I was an awesome mom because we avoided it with my first kid. She likes animals and my little ponies.

Then my second came along. We didn't "do" princess, yet she was playing with kids at preschool who do. She likes the fancy dresses aspect, etc, even though she hasn't seen any of the early Disney movies.

The recent ones aren't bad, to be honest. Disney appears to be getting it. I wouldn't show Beauty and the Beast but we did see Brave and the Princess and the Frog.

My daughter (3.5) loves her dolls, princess toys (we don't watch the movies or shows) and using her imagination. Wha does she say when you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up? A doctor, like mommy Or a cowgirl (depends on the day).

While we do not push the princesses, if she wants to play we do. We do not tell her the real stories (dead mommies, captive princesses, heroic princes etc) and we provide her with plenty of positive role models - especially in our immediate family and friends. SHe is 3.5 - it is more important for me to validate her interests and choices (within reason of course) and build her confidence. I think it would be impossible to totally shield her from princess stuff.

Anonymous wrote:Why avoid Disney movies, especially the ones from pre-computer animation? Just based on artistry alone, those hand-animated movies are worth showing to every child. They are absolute masterpieces and rapidly becoming a lost art.

Um because the messages are jacked?
Go to the museum to look at art.

Why avoid Disney movies, especially the ones from pre-computer animation? Just based on artistry alone, those hand-animated movies are worth showing to every child. They are absolute masterpieces and rapidly becoming a lost art.

We managed to avoid princess stuff for 3 years...and then DD entered preK. It was all over.

Then DD#2 came along and now they are both into princess. Althought DD#1 has moved on to Scooby Doo.

It's tough when DD's preK friends have older siblings b/c they get exposure to stuff that aren't neccessarily age appropriate.

I've avoided anything Nickolodeon/Jr. I told the girls that we don't get that tv channel so there is no reinforcement of the annoying shows

Anonymous wrote:Parents of daughters, if you managed to avoid the craze of all things princess, disney, etc... how did you do it? Or, if they became interested then why, how and what did you do to manage it?

What's wrong with princesses?

IMO you can't avoid it but, if you get lucky like I did, your daughter won't be as in to it as others are and you'll get through it faster. My DD is not a girly girl but still got interested in princess stuff. She wasn't way in to the dresses and dolls, more the books and movies and other toys, but she moved through it and thn got in to other stuff like My Little Pony and Littlest Pet Shop.