You may think (as both of us once did) that little girls who are all-princess, all the time, are just not that cool. You may have also believed that any daughter of your own would be a far more independent-thinking, overalls-wearing sort of spunkster. 
But once that daughter is born, and turns two, and a well-meaning party-goer shows up with something from, say, the Disney Princess Little Kingdom Royal Sparkle Collection? All bets are off.
We’re here to tell you that the princess phase, as brief as it is intense, is pretty much unavoidable–or at least it feels that way. And shaming your daughter for falling for all of it may be less than productive. As Peggy Orenstein points out in her book Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture, the princess imperative lines up perfectly with a 4-7 year old child’s “inflexible stage,” where one’s identity as a girl (or a boy) is felt to be actually predicated upon appearing like one.
But then it becomes a bait-and-switch that Amy wrote about it for Listen To Your Mother NYC: first, our daughters are told that they MUST like princesses– then, just as suddenly, they are told that they must stop. That doesn’t seem so great, either.

In this episode we discuss:

* whether princesses are okay only if we counterbalance the messaging
* whether girls who play with princess toys have lower self-esteem
* what boys might be learning from princess movies
* why a tiara-wearing preschooler is not really a reflection on our parenting- or what she’ll be wearing in another five years

Here’s links to the other research the topic discussed in this episode: 
Devorah Blachor for The Washington Post: Learning to Accept My Daughter’s Obsession with Disney Princesses
Inkoo Kang for Slate: We Need a Disney Princess to Explain How We Got So Hung Up on Disney Princesses
Danielle Paquette for the Washington Post: The Unexpected Way Disney Princesses Affect Little Boys
Annie Murphy Paul for the New York Times: Is Pink Necessary?
Claire Suddath for Bloomberg Businessweek: The $500 Million Battle over Disney’s Princesses
“Pretty as a Princess: Longitudinal Effects of Engagement With Disney Princesses on Gender Stereotypes, Body Esteem, and Prosocial Behavior in Children.” Child Development, June 2016.
Here’s our takeaway: our kids can like whatever they want, no matter their gender. Even if what they like is the Little Kingdom Royal Sparkle Collection.
This episode is sponsored by Zulily, a daily deals site with new sales of up to 70% off every day on items for your kids, your home, and yourself. For a limited time, go to zulily.com/WHATHELL08 and use gift code “WHATHELL08″...