This is what my daughter says to me that might as well have felt like a rock being thrown at my head. It’s not just a little whimsical comment after reading a Disney book. Especially since I don’t care about or read Disney books nor about princesses. I have tons of other great books that tell about spunky little girls like the Punky Brewster and Pippi Longstockings that I looked up to growing up. However, while they keep her attention for a moment, she slowly gravitates back into her own little fairytale world full of tiaras and glass slippers.

We see a little girl dressed in her princess dress while we are out to eat. “I want to be like her when I grow up, like a princess.” Seriously, where did this mother come from and who gave her the right to dress her daughter like that? Was she not aware of the message her daughter was sending?

They are learning to “trade” at school. First it’s their flip flops, then all of a sudden it turns into their name. Yes, I was guilty of it too. From the time I was about 9 til I was 12, I was “Kim”, not Laurel. Laurel was such a weird, awkward and unusual name. Kim started with an attractive alphabet letter, there were others out there with that name and it was easy for everyone to get the first time you told them what your name was. But this princess stuff has even creeped into the creative side of my daughter’s brain, depriving her of even picking another name. When I ask her what name she traded the one I gave her from my heart, she reply’s with “Princess”, I want my name to be “Princess”.

So as I think to myself how I am royally screwed by my daughter buying into this Disney da da crap (at the age of 4) without any of my consent, I began to ask myself how will this role of princess serve her in the real world? So I ask her, when you become this princess, how are you going to pay your bills? She replies, “you will teach me”.

After I ponder her smart and perfect reply, I sigh and say of course I will. Because I am her mother and I want her to be happy and make her own decisions. I will teach her of all evil things in the world, how to be a princess. Where’s that damn magic fairy wand when you need it?!