I’m working hard at finding gifts for Baguette that are fun and educational–so far I’ve had success, such as with this clock puzzle–check out those colors, numbers, shapes, and clockitude! But when I sent a list of suggestions to my family (who had asked for that list), I heard a lot of “Oh, I’ve already got my eye on something I think she’ll like.” So I have no idea what examples of pink fuzziness are awaiting us.
Baguette is still young enough that I can dictate her wardrobe and the toys she has at home, but I know that the first part of that, at least, is about to change. So our approach has been to expose her to as much variety as possible in terms of style, color, flavor, activity, etc. It may be that her favorite color is pink–but at least she’ll have chosen that based on the whole spectrum. And Mr. Sandwich says, “Maybe she’ll want to be a princess. Fine. She can be Princess Leia. Or Boudicca.”
I do know that I don’t want to tell her, “You’re wonderful just as you are, unless you like pink and princesses.” That’s not a good message, either.
But I really have a problem with the ubiquity of pink, and the emphasis on princesses. I think that’s incredibly limiting. What if a little girl feels like this instead?
Shouldn’t we have room for both–and for even more options? If we can be anything, why does it seem like there is no alternative to pink?
Don’t get me wrong. I love Disney movies. What I do not love is Disney Princesses: The Marketing Phenomenon. It removes all individuality from those characters and makes them nothing more than pretty girls in fluffy dresses.
My daughter is already more than that, and I know she’s not alone.
So we’ll watch Disney movies. But when we do, we’ll also talk about traits like kindness (Cinderella), integrity (Tiana), adventurousness (Jasmine), loyalty (Pocahontas), and ingenuity (Mulan).
And who knows? Maybe I can even get her to love Pink.
Photo by graphiclunarkid, via Flickr.
You know, my daugther is all pink all the time. Once she turned one and became slightly verbal, she began to choose her wardrobe, and now it’s still all pink (she’s almost 5). I do try to show her Pink, the artist, but the name and the color do not register to her! It’s like her name is Pink? What? You’re messing with me! My daughter is a major ballerina, princess girl, but she can also kick butt. I’m not worried, and I’m know Baguette has a lot more to her, as well!
I’m a big fan of balance–heck, I sent Baguette to school in a pink and white shirt today! It’s not that I’m opposed to the color, it’s that I’m opposed to the way it’s pushed on girls by advertising. After all, girls can kick butt while wearing any color they choose!
I can’t imagine what my childhood would have been like if the Disney princesses were a big thing. Barbie was bad enough. My bedroom was draped in pink and purple and I positively hated it after a year. Even now I take issue when anything that is aimed at women (say, for example, a women’s programming site) is ensconced in pink! It’s like we won’t respond to it unless it’s “pretty”.
I once worked at a company that sent out their “Bring Your Daughters to Work Day” flyers on pink paper.
You’ve probably seen my (many!) posts on this topic… and know that Disney infiltrated our lives awhile back, thanks to day care friends. We went with it, and the pink/purple obsession, and all that, and I’m happy to report we seem to be coming out of the princess phase, at least for the kindergartner. Now it is Hello Kitty and Barbie. Sigh. But we just keep encouraging all her interests and watching to make sure she has a range of toys to play with, and I think it will all work out.
I’ve never been a big fan of pink myself. I like blue and green. So I’ve never bought anything aimed at women by pinkifying.
We just bought some Disney movies at Costco (among other things, Mr. Sandwich and I would like to see Tangled), but we don’t plan to introduce Baguette to them yet.
Baguette’s favorite color of the moment is purple, but she has yet to show much interest in pink. Maybe she will, and I’ll let her have pink. But hopefully she won’t be TOO single-minded. And if she is, oh, well.
Thank goodness we are not the only parents who think like this – so glad to know we aren’t alone! Seems so many just buy right into the superficial end of the Princess spectrum. Our daughter does indeed love the princesses and we didn’t even introduce them to her! Thank you, daycare and preschool… Anyway, if she’s going to love them, we figure – as you said – that the best is to focus on the good qualities, valuable lessons that can be found. She has also recently discovered Princess Leia thanks to her Fab Dad. May I suggest a favorite book of ours? “The Paper Bag Princess” – can’t think of the author off the top of my head but I know I have it on a post on my blog. Have to look. We also found a song quite by accident on the kids radio in the car one day called “The Princess Who Saved Herself” which gives a great little story about the princess. Want to say the singer is Coulter? Coulton? Again, I have to look that one up. My girl LOVES these and I think the confident, self-reliant princess is a nice change from “oh, please whisk me away from my misery.” These women take care of themselves – not a bad message.
Great post – glad to see it. 🙂 If you are interested in those authors above, e-mail me and I’ll get them to you.
I’d love to know those authors! I’ve heard of “The Paper Bag Princess,” but we don’t have a copy of it yet and I haven’t read it.
The Paper Bag Princess is by Robert N. Munsch – a great book. The song The Princess Who Saved Herself” is by Jonathan Coulton. You can find it on You Tube and it’s available on a CD called Many Hands which supports the Haitian People’s Support Project. Also just found this link – http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2010/08/16/the-princess-who-saved-herself/ – at Coulton’s website.
Thanks!