Princess Protection Program?

                     Every involved parent does it. Treating their little girl “like a princess.” But I ask you, is that a good idea in the long run? Sure, its totally cute to be able to get your little girl (or niece, or sister, or cousin, whatever the relation) a princess outfit because we all know how much they love to play dress-up. The pink dress or tutu, the sparkling tiara or crown, the bejeweled scepter, and the plastic “high heels” are all part of the package. Yes, they make the little girl “feel pretty” but is it only hurting her in the long run. I mean, if you get her all of those things, once she puts that costume on, she becomes that character: a princess. So she begins to demand things. And when you ask why she says “because I’M the princess.” She thinks that she can get whatever she wants because she feels powerful. That’s all the costume represents: power. Because once she puts that costume on, she personifies the “princess” that you allow her to be. She is in power; not the parent(s). Even after she takes the costume off she starts to demand things more and more because it gives her power; which makes her feel good. Because you treated her like a princess when she had the costume on, she wanted to get that same feeling even when it was nowhere in sight. And so, the trend begins: she demands and wines and the parent caves because they “just want their little princess to be happy.” See, that’s another place where the parent goes wrong: calling her a “princess” in front of her. That only solidifies it more in their tiny little-girl brains, here people! So they start to believe that they truly are princesses and that they always get what they want.

Ten years later.

              They are young adults now and are just beginning to go into the real world. They have had the world handed to them on a silver platter their entire lives because they were their parents’ “little princess.” After hearing nothing but “Yes” their entire lives, all the sudden, they are thrown into a world of “No’s.” And all too soon the Rolling Stones song resounds in their heads (No, you can’t always get what you want.) These girls are now distraught and completely heartbroken because they don’t know what “No” feels like. All because their parents spoiled them as children. This “little princess” is finally finding out what it feels like to be a pauper in the real world. But could it be true that they are feeling it more harshly because they were never taught how to accept defeat and overcome it?


                         Now by NO means am I saying that little girls shouldn’t be spoiled now and then. (Because I think everyone should; but in moderation). All I am saying is that we should be careful as to how the little girls are being treated nowadays because we don’t want to set them up for failure in their futures. We want them to be strong, don’t we? Strong doesn’t always mean getting whatever they want at their beck-and-call. We should just be cautious of how the girls are treated because they are so impressionable. I could only hope that my little girl would grow up to be strong and independent; not frail and demanding of whatever she wants. This may make you think twice about how you treat your daughters, hmm?