A Ban on Disney

Annie and I have decided to place a temporary ban on all princess-oriented Disney movies.

Genna is enjoying them like any girl would, but they seem to be consuming Kate. Her vocabulary is changing. The color 'yellow' is no longer yellow - it is 'Belle, after the color of Belle's dress. Blue is now Cinderella, and pink is Sleeping Beauty, for the same reasons. She uses these new color names to describe even her favorite M & M flavors! That, by itself, would be cute. But Kate has now taken to pretend crying. Constantly.

It's enough having to deal with real crying, but having to deal with pretend crying as well is too much. Almost every one of her games or pretend sessions involves her burying her face in her hands and saying, "I'm crying. I'm going to run away." Sure enough, she runs from the room.

When you think about it, it makes sense. Princess Jasmine cries when she is told that Aladdin has been executed. Cinderella cries when she can't make it to the ball. Ariel cries when chastised by her father - then runs away. Oh yes, that sets a great precedence for when I have to scold Kate.

We have gone a week now with no princesses, and it has been wonderful. How can I train my girls to be world leaders, when they believe that princesses must cry all the time? They are watching more Dora instead. That's good, because Dora is a scrappy little problem-solver who has never cried once! And she has a talking monkey.