Princessification
It came out of nowhere. Two weeks ago Alice asked me, "am I bootiful?" I said, "of course you are" without hesitation. Then she asked, "are you bootiful?" And I said, "Yes. We are both beautiful." Then after a minute I added, "all people are beautiful unless they have ugliness in their hearts." But I don't think she can understand.
A few days later she began asking about ballerinas and wanting to wear a tutu everywhere. No big deal. Then this week she says she wants to go to dance class like some of her classmates. We went shoe shopping and she had a meltdown over me saying no to plastic "glass slippers" that looked like they hurt her feet to wear. I told her they were not for real girls and she calmed down and said, "just pretend?" And I said yes.
She has started saying also that she is, much to my husband's dismay, a princess. I tried to sell her on being a queen, but that confused her.
Then today, we were reading Calvin and Hobbes and she points to Suzy and says, "is she cute?" Note that Suzy with her short brown hair and round cheeks looks a lot like my daughter. I was flabbergasted. I think I mumbled something about Suzy being smart and then something about all children being cute.
I checked out Cinderella Ate My Daughter from the library and am binge reading it, but I'm still confused. Where did this come from? Why so suddenly? And she wants to wear makeup! And asks, "does this make me pretty?" When she puts on a hairband or dress.
At least she still loves her trucks and watching sports, I guess. But I wasn't expecting to deal with this yet and certainly not this fast since she never cared about pink before. Now, almost overnight, everything is better pink.
A few days later she began asking about ballerinas and wanting to wear a tutu everywhere. No big deal. Then this week she says she wants to go to dance class like some of her classmates. We went shoe shopping and she had a meltdown over me saying no to plastic "glass slippers" that looked like they hurt her feet to wear. I told her they were not for real girls and she calmed down and said, "just pretend?" And I said yes.
She has started saying also that she is, much to my husband's dismay, a princess. I tried to sell her on being a queen, but that confused her.
Then today, we were reading Calvin and Hobbes and she points to Suzy and says, "is she cute?" Note that Suzy with her short brown hair and round cheeks looks a lot like my daughter. I was flabbergasted. I think I mumbled something about Suzy being smart and then something about all children being cute.
I checked out Cinderella Ate My Daughter from the library and am binge reading it, but I'm still confused. Where did this come from? Why so suddenly? And she wants to wear makeup! And asks, "does this make me pretty?" When she puts on a hairband or dress.
At least she still loves her trucks and watching sports, I guess. But I wasn't expecting to deal with this yet and certainly not this fast since she never cared about pink before. Now, almost overnight, everything is better pink.