the princess problems

I just read this article (off msnbc.com sort of...I read something else first and ended up at this one) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30827260/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/ I know I have responded to a few articles off the web but it's not my main goal of this blog, really I just thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss. Mostly I wanted to talk about my thoughts about one paragraph in particular...but mind you this whole thing was just a trigger for sharing thoughts on what I feel I am doing well with my parenting of R.

The Paragraph:
"All of it, Haller says, constitutes a brilliant marketing move that targets a normal stage of child development. By age 3, kids are beginning to define themselves, both with gender and as individuals. They’re also big-time into fantasy play, which for boys, often manifests itself in super heroes.
But somehow, the princess phenomenon has become way more loaded."

I have a wonderful child. R is a great girl, a pain in the rump sometimes but a wonderful child overall. She is polite and caring, she tells great stories if you don't mind listening to her go into gibberish for a little while in the middle when she has so many details to tell. She is not a good sleeper, but I would take that over a naughty child any time. True, because she is usually SO GOOD I overreact when she is a normal toddler and does things that are not appropriate.

R likes to play dress up, I wish I had a lot more for her to play it with. That's something that's going on the Christmas List for her (I might even be smart this year and buy a bunch of Halloween costumes when they are on clearance so I can get more bang for my buck and more variety). R likes to play with toy cars, trains, read books, play with dolls and bears. She loves balls and kicking them, throwing them, anything you do with sports and a minute later she will start dancing and tell us she's a ballerina. She loves to pretend to be a SUPERHERO! cars, trucks, airplanes, and various animals. A gets upset when she's playing kitty cat when he's trying to get her out the door but I sort of encourage it by calling after her "oh kitty cat, time to get in the car, come here cute little kitty cat!" (A plays along when we are at home and not running errands, I figure there are worse battles out there to pick.)

I will not say we are perfect parents but I do think that we have managed to do a good job of raising a girl (to the ripe old age of three mind you! I know we have many many more battles ahead of us!) who is exposed and interested in things that are generally thought of as "girls" and "boys" It helps that her temperament is accepting of it all and not just girly on it's own.

I will admit we like to tell her "Princess R" stories at night night time. We turn her into a princess and recap the day. I don't think the special part of it for R is the emphasis on Princess but rather she gets to be the hero of the story! It doesn't work as well when you say "once upon a time there was a beautiful little girl named SuperHero R." She only gets once princess story at night night time but she loves it!