I fought the Princesses, and the Princesses won!

I am not willing to admit defeat yet in my fight to convince my child that there is more to life than being a princess, and that there is something else to wear other than dresses. I am, however, pretty sure that I have lost this battle – to keep princesses from invading every corner of my house, which is especially difficult this time of year.

Yes, I know her father and I control the purse strings, and it is essentially our fault when we buy her some doll that resembles a princess (okay, a lot of the incoming toys are because of grandparents). On the other hand, I want her to like her present; why buy things for someone when you know they won't like it (see previous post on presents).

So, instead of fighting the princesses, I am acquiescing to their presence, and I decided to use them as examples of how a little girl, who wants to be a princess, should behave. For example:

• Princesses listen to their elders – see Cinderella, and Snow White – Cinderella's stepmother orders her to clean the house, do all the laundry and cook all the meals, and Cinderella obeys, I am just asking my child to put her dirty socks in the hamper...

• Cleaning is good, and feel free to whistle while you work – see Snow White

• Reading is fun – see Belle

• Be good, nice and kind – see all the princesses

• It is good to have set goals, and to work hard for to reach those goals, just not so hard that you forget to have fun along the way – see Tiana

• Be adventurous and try new things, there is a big world to see out there – see Arial, Jasmine and Rapunzel

• Look beyond what someone looks like when deciding if you want to be their friend – see Belle

• Girls can do anything boys can, and sometimes even better – see Mulan

• Sometimes it is up to the girl to help rescue both herself and the boy – see Arial

• And a very important lesson: Sleep is good – see Snow White and Aurora

• Also, don't piss of big talking trees – see Pocahontas, or was that from Lord of the Rings...

And here is something that I would like her to not learn:

• Not listening to your parents – see Arial, who should have also listened to the crab, “Darling it's better Down where it's wetter” (Mulan also didn't listen to her father, but it probably did save his life, and Rapunzel did not listen to her 'mother' but the woman did kidnap the child, so these cases should not count)

• changing who you are for a boy – see Arial

• Sitting around waiting for your prince to come – see Aurora and Snow White (though in their cases, they were more asleep than sitting)

So, I hope she will try to keep these lessons in mind when I try to take her to see the Disney Live!presents Three Classic Fairy Tales. It sounds like a great show, with music, adventure, and magic; and of course “THE MOUSE”and his friends; and most importantly, Snow White, Cinderella and Belle.

Something that sounds perfect for my little princess.

For more information about the show - http://www.disneylive.ca/ThreeClassicFairyTales/

Show times:

Ottawa, Ontario, Scotiabank Place Dec. 18 - 19, 2011

Montreal, Quebec, Theatre St-Denis Dec. 22 - 28, 2011

Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton Place Theatre Dec. 29 - 30, 2011

Kitchener, Ontario, Centre in the Square Jan. 6, 2011

Kingston, Ontario, K-Rock Centre Jan. 7, 2012

London, Ontario, John Labatt Centre Jan. 8 - 9, 2012

Oshawa, Ontario, General Motors Centre Jan. 12, 2012

Toronto, Ontario, Rogers Centre Jan. 13 - 15, 2012

Fine Print:

Feld Entertainment may be providing me with complimentary tickets to this show, in exchange for my time and efforts in attending the show, and reporting my opinion within this blog. However, the opinions about the show, and everything else are 100 per cent mine.

pictures courtesy of Feld Entertainment.© Disney.