I recently read an opinion article that little girls shouldn't be encouraged with so much princess stuff. If you've been to a little girl department of any store you can see what they're talking about---there are princess dress-up items, princess radios, phones, books, you name it. All you have to do is slap a Disney princess face on it and it's headed for the popular little girl toy lists.
The opinion in the article was that princess toys encourage princess "thinking" which hurts little girls because real-life doesn't work that way and it can be harmful to have privileged and entitled thinking nurtured at such a young age.
While I agreed with part of the opinion I thought it was too generalized, and frankly, since most little girls outgrow the princess thing by age five or so, it really was a moot point. I think that it is harmful to have entitled and privileged sorts of thinking that leads to selfish and spoiled behavior, but can you really pinpoint that on a little girl having a lot of princess toys? Personally, I like encouraging my daughter's imagination as we have princess tea parties while we wear tiaras and I have some wonderful memories of Spiderman (aka little brother) crashing the party.
It all comes down to parenting, in my opinion. Princess toys may or may not be a symptom of selfish behavior, but I don't think letting your daughter indulge in princess play is harmful unless it's taken too far. Limits are always needed. However, imagination in an era of mindless video games has it's merits, in my book.
What do you think? Can the inner princess be taken too far? Are princess toys harmful for a girl's emotional health?
Monday, 19 March 2012
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