Is the princess fantasy hurting our young daughters? Some experts thinks so. Good Morning America ran a spot over the weekend on what has been dubbed “The Princess Effect”. The concept is not that fantasy or wanting to play pretend is bad but that smacking our young, impressionable kids over the head with these personas may lead to later issues.
We do live in an over indulgent society where instant gratification is the name of the game for most people. Oprah’s expert calls this “destination obsession” and I agree this can and is a problem for many adults and kids who get so caught up in the outcome they fail to enjoy the ride or get anything out of it. But, can we really trace the roots to playing dress up when 4 years old? Before we blame Cinderella or Belle, there are many other media moguls at play molting our girls into beings we may not want them to become: TV images of overly thin teens and young adults, magazines showing unhealthy models, reality shows glamorizing unbecoming and immature behavior. Those forces are much more powerful on our daughter’s psyches – especially if we fail to help our girls understand healthy from destructive images.
Young kids need to dream and play pretend. It is not uncommon to see a girl dressed up as a pretty princess ruling the world. Or to be a police woman with a tiara. Or to be a teacher. Or to be the President. That’s the great thing about play – kids can try on different hats and, well, have fun! Condemning that because of later issues seems a stretch.
Phases in kids are like candles – they burn bright for a while then naturally flicker out. A new candle then ignites with a new phase. If our young girls turn into are demanding princesses wanting only bling, that is not Disney’s fault, it’s ours as parents for not stepping up and helping our girls be more than a pretty package. ed.
Hi Dr Gwenn-I have 2 boys, well men. Oldest is 26 youngest 18, so I never had to deal with that. However, now I have a precious granddaughter and I do call her a my little princess sometimes, although I mostly call her angel girl.:)
i worked with an ED doc who din’t let his young girls have Barbies as he thought the doll sent the wrong message to girls. I personally love the baby dolls when I was growing up. Now I am dating myself, but I had Chatty Kathy and Thumbelina, etc. I don’t like the real trendy dolls they have for girls today – I am thinking of Bratz. (not at all sure)
My favorite thing was to play school and I had to be the teacher.
My granddaughter lives for anything involving art.
The media is most challenging in competing with the values I would want instilled in my kids.
I hope what I did teach them stays with them and that they impart that wisdom and even more to their children.
Good morning Dr Gwenn!
MSN has an article about the Bratz dolls being too sexy. I thought that was the name but wasn’t sure. I would NEVER EVER give my granddaughter those dolls. Whatever happened to wholesomeness? I think it is fine for girls to wear makeup as long as tastefully done but would never let my daughter leave the house looking like that.
I never had to worry about that with sons so we got off easy on that one. My joke is that God gave me boys because I am so inept at doing girl hair.
The following is a comment (copied it)following that article that I thought you might find amusing.
“My DD and I had yet another conversation this weekend about inappropriate toys. For us it is the Bratz dolls. I despise them, and have taught her from a very young age that they are trashy and not allowed at our house. Well the little recorder proceeded to tell one of her friends at school that she was trashy because she was wearing a Bratz T-shirt. Oops!”
OMG – the Bratz doll craze drives me nuts. We were so glad our girls didn’t really get sucked into that. They did Barbies, Princesses, American Girls but you know what really captured their minds? Superheros – especially the girls. My 9 year old has the entire set and the watch tower…she drags ‘em out when ever our nephews are over.
With regards to images, that’s where parents have to step in. We have to work really hard to keep our kids balanced given how much they are slammed by media messages.
I’m going to check out that MSN article – thanks for the heads up.
Dr. G