I'm curious, bees! If your child's school/daycare/Gymboree/etc announced superheroes and princesses week, how would you respond? (Mainly as a mom of a girl or potential mom of a girl.) Would you say something? Dress your girl as a superhero? Or are you ok with this?
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How old is your lo - old enough to choose what they want to wear/who they want to be? I think I would let her decide who she wanted to be. If she wants to be a princess, great! If she wants to be superman, great!
ETA: What's so wrong about being a princess?
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@sloaneandpuffy: please please please google "a mighty girl" and check out their website/blog! This would be an excellent question for them!
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We went to a pirates and princesses party when LO was about 15 months. DH wanted to dress her like a pirate, which I would have been ok with but by that time her personality was so princess. It just didn't make sense for me to do pirate. But there were some other little girls that chose to be pirates
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We went to a pirates and princesses party when LO was about 15 months. DH wanted to dress her like a pirate, which I would have been ok with but by that time her personality was so princess. It just didn't make sense for me to do pirate. But there were some other little girls that chose to be pirates
But I didn't dress her like the typical princess. It was a Halloween party so she was a pumpkin princess. I made her a black and orange tutu, and she wore a pumpkin on her headband.
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If she wanted to be a princess, I'd absolutely let her do a princess. If she wanted to be a super hero, I'd totally let her be a super hero.
If she wasn't old enough to chose, she would probably end up a super hero, thanks to her big brother.
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I don't know, I wouldn't have a huge issue with it, but I would send her in whatever she wanted to wear.
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I would be more concerned about my son. A superhero can be a boy or girl. A princess is a girl only. What if I my son wanted to dress up as a prince or even wear a dress, would he get ridiculed ( even questioned) by the staff or other kids?
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I'd be a little personally annoyed, since super heros and princesses are not equitable characters, and I'm not a big fan of the "princess" stuff/ideal.
I wouldn't say anything and if my LO were old enough to chose, I would let her pick what she wanted to dress up as. LO happens to LOVE Captain America, so right now at least, she would be likely to pick that over princess (and we would pick that over princess).
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It's kind of a moot point right now, because this is a place where my son takes classes but my daughter doesn't. And I'm not even sure this "theme" applies to my son's class. I just saw it on Gymbo's FB page and it got me going LOL
My daughter's a baby still so I'd definitely dress her as a superbaby, but I just don't like the idea in general. It's sexist both ways and as @yoursilverlining says, it's not equitable -- princesses don't DO anything except look pretty and wait around for some dude to rescue them (at least not the Disney princesses they're obviously thinking of). I just don't see the need. Aren't there enough other themes out there?
Although once my girl is older I'm sure she'll want to dress like a princess, I'd hope that a place that purports to help her grow and develop would not encourage that.
Thanks @cmomma17 for the link. Looks awesome and I am eager to explore further.
@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Also a good point -- one of my friends said I should dress him like a princess but I have a feeling his future self would not appreciate that so much. LOL
I limited myself to a pointed little comment on their FB status, but my husband is really steamed. I'm kind of hoping he doesn't get involved because he's not particularly diplomatic on this issue.
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I guess I don't care. I would dress her up as a princess.
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I dressed C as a princess for Halloween last year.... Princess Leia, that is.
I don't agree with the "princess" mentality or culture in modern society. HOWEVER, I think sometimes people make a bigger deal out of it than it needs to be.
Plus, not all Disney princesses were useless damsels in distress. Merida, Tiana and Belle are all good examples of that.
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I have to disagree that Disney princesses don't do anything, though - not all of them anyway
Belle went after and gave herself in place of her Father's freedom, as a quick example just being a stinker here.I wouldn't have an issue with it. If my son or daughter wanted to dress up however, I'd let them
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@sorrycharlie: Haha, great minds think alike!
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I wouldn't be thrilled. I'd have no problem sending my daughter in whatever she wanted, but like others have said, it just reinforces the sexism both ways.
That being said, I totally agree that there are some bamf princesses out there.
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I wouldn't have an issue. My daughter renamed herself recently to Princess for a few days. And then followed it up with naming herself Dog. She has her moments of sweetness mixed with rough and tumble. Last year for a party she gave girl pirate themed snacks at school. I'd support her wanting to be a super hero or princess.
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@sorrycharlie: Mulan went to battle and Tiana opened a rrestaurant.
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I wouldn't have a problem. It's just a harmless dress up theme. I have to disagree about the princesses sitting around too. Their newest princess from brave was the complete opposite of sitting around to be rescued. It wouldn't matter any ways my daughter has three older brothers she would pick super hero or pirate over princess any day.
Her current favorite is power rangers
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@Bookworm: .........bamf?????
....nevermind. I like the origin.
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I wouldn't say anything to the school, but I would discuss with my daughter and let her know she can be anything she wanted to be!
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@mediagirl: BAMF = Bad-Ass Mother F---er, right @Bookworm?
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@Adira: You are correct, m'am.
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I agree our daughters (and sons) should feel free to be what they want to be... but knowing that 99% of the girls are going to be princesses... and realistically, NOT Tiana and Mulan... I just wonder how fair that is really being to the child. If she wants to dress like wonder woman and she's the ONLY non-princess, she'd have to be a pretty BAMF kid to be OK with that, know what I mean?
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: exactly
LO demanded to eat as I was posting. I was thinking Merida too! Like @Mrs. Train posted - Merida is my current fave -
@zippylef: @Adira: @mediagirl: hahaha yep, that's what it means
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I have a son, but honestly, if he wanted to wear a princess/prince outfit to a superhero/princess party, I'd be okay with it.
I personally have more issue with actual royalty as opposed to the Disney version of it.
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@looch: Haha, yes let's hope no one dresses up like Prince Harry in Las Vegas. Or on Halloween. Or... like, ever. LOL
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@Mrs. Train: I see a knight or guard in the picture too. Totally appropriate for a princess theme- he's royalty.
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: some cool books regarding this are "My Princess Boy" http://www.amazon.com/My-Princess-Boy-Cheryl-Kilodavis/dp/1442429887/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373981730&sr=8-1&keywords=princess+boy
And "10,000 Dresses" http://www.amazon.com/10-000-Dresses-Marcus-Ewert/dp/1583228500/ref=reg_hu-rd_add_1_dpI think our princess culture is harmful for both boys and girls.
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@sloaneandpuffy: oh I hope you love it! It's a amazing site with great resources. I don't have a daughter but I still follow mighty girl on facebook and I'm always liking everything they share! I think the princess culture is so harmful, I don't see it as just "dress up" there are so many deeper issues there!
"Not all Princesses Dress in Pink" is supposed to be a really great book for little girls! http://www.amazon.com/Not-All-Princesses-Dress-Pink/dp/1416980180/ref=sr_1_23?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373981978&sr=1-23&keywords=princess -
@cmomma17: I saw an interview with the My Princess Boy family. I just love his big brother who told his parents " so what he wants to wear a dress, it makes him happy."
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: yep, three musketeers! They were playing with their musketeer costumes so I asked if she wanted her princess dress. She screamed and went to get the power ranger costume.
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@zippylef: @sorrycharlie: I think the word *princess* has taken on such a negative connotation! Now, when people hear *princess* they think *diva* . . . which really is such a shame! I don't think of princesses that way . . . the examples you brought to the discussion also came to my mind, but I also think of real like princesses who were/are incredible role models, such as (former Princess now ) Queen Rania of Jordan and even the ancient Princess Nefertiti, and princesses who devoted a great deal of their time to charity and aid work such as Princess Diana and Princess Margaret.
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I think princess is usually a catch-all for dress-up for little girls. Kids aren't looking at it from the same perspective as an adult who has all kinds of connotations for the word. I loved dressing as a princess as a kid, but I also loved Scooby Doo and Fraggle Rock, and kitty cats! I would let my daughter participate in a Princess dress-up day, if she wanted. I would only be a little concerned if she was ONLY into princesses, and I would try to get her interested in other things as well.
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I'd be totally okay with it and would dress my daughter up as a princess. Unless, like @Mrs. Train:, I have a little girl who expresses a desire to dress as something else.
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@JerricaBenton: OMG you just reminded me that I was obsessed with dressing up as and pretending to be kitty cats
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@sloaneandpuffy: I'm actually with you on this! I feel like I could get carried away on this topic but I won't. Let's just say I would totally dress my LO as a superhero over a princess any day.
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To me, dress up is just dress up. It's make believe. Kids are just experimenting with pretending. When someone lets their kid dress up as a pirate, are they saying being a thief & murderer is cool? Absolutely not.
The deeper context here I think is gender stereotypes, which are literally everywhere. Watching media with superheroes and princesses is more likely to be influence a child's point of view than dressing up. If the theme was "be your favorite movie character" most kids would end up as superheroes and princesses anyway.
I wouldn't say anything to the daycare/gym/school. I'd only say something about being inclusive if a child was mocked for their outfit choice. Maybe I'd suggest a more neutral theme if every dress-up day was wrapped up in gender stereotypes.
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I would be OK with it. My niece dressed up as superman, foam muscles and all! I loved it. She was so excited. She wants a superman birthday party for her next party. But her sister is ALL girl and is all about princesses and unicorns. They just like what they like!
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I commented on this on Twitter, but couldn't go into detail.lol I'd be bothered by it, but wouldn't say anything. To be fair, they should do Superhero Day and then Royalty/Knight day so each kid could dress up for both and not feel left out. Or make it Pirate Day and the girls could be pirate princesses like on Jake and the Neverland Pirates. She is SO not a wimpy princess.
My daughter likes princess types of things and then she also likes race cars and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. She's all over the place sometimes. LOL!
Belle went after and gave herself in place of her Father's freedom, as a quick example Subscribe to our newsletter
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