The Beginning of a Princess

My daughter transformed into a princess on her 2nd birthday. Her aunt bought her a princess set that came with a dress, jewellery, high heels and a wand. The second she put it on she was hooked. She instinctively knew she was a princess, although up until that point we had never seen any books or movies that showed princesses. She loved the pretty dress and could walk surprisingly well in the too-big high heels. I guess all the training in my shoes helped. She had a blast and wore it the rest of the night. Since it was her birthday she was allowed to stay up way past her bed time and indulged in a lot of sugar. We ended the night with a melt-down when I tried to take it off her to put her to sleep. The next morning she couldn’t wait to put the dress on again.

Since then we’ve added several new dresses and princess-related books. I often find Princess in a dress throughout the day. She loves to dance in them and often refuses to dance unless she has her dress on. Although some parents are concerned about raising a spoiled little princess, I think we can allow her this fun role-playing activity without raising a little monster. In fact, we use it to our advantage. It’s very effective to tell her that “Princesses don’t make messes” or “Let’s clean like Cinderella.” Also, although she may be a princess, as her mom, I’m the queen. And we all know that the king and queen are in charge.

I’m sure she will outgrow this at some stage, but in the meantime I’m enjoying raising my little princess.