Let it Go

We are in full blown princess mode at my house...or about to be. Georgia knows the names of all of the Disney Princesses, which is weird because we have only watched Frozen, Cinderella, Brave, Rapunzel, The Little Mermaid...um...hummm... okay we have seen more movies than I thought. I was going to write that I'm not sitting around telling her their names, but I guess I kind of am. We have movie night most Fridays, and she loves Disney so that is what we watch. We have also watched Annie, Sound of Music, Oliver, Wizard of Oz but I still think she is a tad too young for them. Maybe she will like them in this coming year, but for right now it is all Disney all the time.

This is one of those things that I reflect upon and think, wow I was stupid. Throughout my pregnancy and when Georgia was a baby  I said over and over again that we would not be watching Disney anything, and that she was never going to dress like a Disney character or wear a t-shirt with a Disney character on it. I thought it was tacky and lame..and of course I did. I was 33 years old when I got pregnant. I had not seen a Disney move in 20 years and ALL kids everywhere in every public place I went to were annoying to me, and they just all always seemed to be in Disney shit and that made them even more annoying to me so to me Disney=Annoying.

So fast forward to all of the pledges I made when I was pregnant. No Disney, no character shirts, no ugly baby furniture in my house, she will never have food on her face or unbrushed hair...you get the idea. I was a CLUELESS first time mom who thought I could do what no mom before her had done!!

It is possible to keep your kids away from Disney I think, but it would just take so much EFFORT. Her friends at school love Frozen, her friends in our neighborhood love Frozen, and goddammit when I put on that fucking move I can actually clean my bathroom and vacuum my stairs because she is so into it.

And who am I to deny a three year old a Disney movie? Like seriously? Why did I want her to pop out as a mature 33 year old baby with the same tastes as me? That is so stupid. I LOVED Disney when I was little (my grandfather somehow got copies of all the movies in the early 80's so I had all of them!) It was a huge, fun, part of my life. I loved the songs, I loved the stories. Why did I feel the need to deny my child of something that was such a positive experience in my life? 

When our kids are babies and maybe until they are 2 years old they are our own walking billboards. We can give them the haircuts we want, put them in the cool outfits we want, decorate their rooms as un-gender specific as we want, but then...they start to develop personalities. And they start to develop a fondness for ugly plastic shit from Target over that beautiful, whimsical, expensive wooden Pottery Barn doll that is not a monstrosity décor wise. And yes, I am aware that I can so NO I AM NOT BUYING YOU PLASTIC SHIT FROM TARGET.  But my reason would be so lame. My reason would be because *I* don' t like it.

She has opinions on what she does and does not like. I think it's good for her, and don't get me wrong we expose her to other stuff besides Disney. She is super into the solar system and we have  science books that she loves to read over and over again, but these things are not hot button issues like the Disney phase is.  And to me, it is just not worth it to deny her of something that at this point is harmless ...to her...it is harming me to hear those songs over and over but I did that to my parents with movies so whatever, I look at it as payback. Except my favorite songs involved Judy Garland who EVERYONE loves, not Idina Menzel who I can't stand. Her voice makes my hair stand up in a bad way and I want to jump out windows ever time she starts singing. Blah.

It's just a phase. A harmless one. One that she is having a blast with, and I just can't keep up this facade that my kid is too cool for school. When she is 13 and wants to buy a pair of slut shorts I will responsibly give her my adult opinion that I don't want her walking around with her butt hanging out. I feel that is a different situation than her right now wanting Magic Clip Ana from Target. I actually don't know how I am going to deal with the teen clothing situation, as I was the poster child for like everything you DO NOT want your teen daughter to wear...but for now..I am not worrying about it. I will enjoy the hilarity of my daughter waving and bowing to her imaginary subjects, of thinking her father is her prince charming, and of calling the dog King Buckley. (PS no one calls me anything so I just say I'm the maid)

And of course, I will enjoy her love of Disney Movies and the fact that she loves to watch them with me. It is going to be in no time at all that she does not want me anywhere near her while she is doing her thang, so I will appreciate our time together now and let her be a child who likes princesses, solar systems, dogs, Paris, and trucks.