Princesses we can be proud of..
Quite a few parents, just like me are trying to raise our children away from traditional gender stereotypes,
Away from limitations and boundaries.
So that childhood is free of preconceptions and assumptions.
In our house this extends to colors, toys, books, chores, games , everything really.
I’ll tell you what the hardest one to tackle is though.. its Princess culture..
When you have a little girl, she is bombarded by gifts, adverts, friends, radio, television into this enticing world of pretty pink dollies, often blond, often skinny, even more often in distress, waiting for a prince of some sort for rescuing..
Thankfully the world is changing, very
very
very
slowly we are getting dolls that represent people in actual society, with hips, tall , short, different skin tones.
Even Disney movies are moving away from this old stereotype and we have characters like Princess Merida from Brave, who was rather independent in her actions and her story.
We also love Mulan’s strength and daring too, even she gets her prince in the end.
There is nothing wrong with getting a Prince, it just can’t be the default storyline, every. single. time.
If you have been following our social media on Instagram and Facebook, lately, you would have seen some of our favorite princess!
These are the Guardian Princesses and they are really quite the departure from the norm.
Each Princess is , brave, kind, beautiful and anchored in a specific culture.
They also have different special powers which they use to protect their people and nature.
They tackle bullying, prejudice, pollution, natural resources among other themes.
Princess Ten Ten is Ella’s favorite,💥
There is something about her doing martial arts, her closeness to her grandma and wind power that really resonated with her (my husband is studying Wind Power Technology, I wonder if that has anything to do with it).
I also love the depth of emotion in this character.
Without over doing the ‘strong woman’ angle, this princess is also very human;
she cries laughs, gets angry, gets hurt, perseveres, find confidence, forgiveness and love.
She also has short spikey hair which Ella thinks is pretty cool too!
Here in Sweden the children are taught right from preschool about the importance of caring for the environment and recycling.
Having Princesses which fight for the same causes, so to speak ,was a joy for me as a parent and made sense to my child.
Research in child psychology has taught us the importance of role modeling for children’s development. So, it is important that we as parent take a moment to decide who or what is my child being exposed to and therefore absorbing from.
We continue to wear our Elsa dress at least once a week and nothing is as beautiful as the transformation when Cinderella gets her magical princess dress from her fairy god mother.
I am not trying to remove any of these magical moments, but rather introduce an alternative story line where princesses are strong, have purpose, go on adventures, wear gowns or pants, in fact wear whatever they please! That way we contribute towards raising a more balanced, happy, and secure human being.
The same goes for my son by the way 😊
You can find out more about the books on their website here ..Enjoy!
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