I have no problem with the Disney Princesses. Yes, the movies are cheesy, the old ones are full of terrible stereotypes, but in the end, I have no problem with them. Dumpling's first obsessions were Cinderella and Snow White, old school. How many times did we play "eat the bad apple"? And when she used to watch Cinderella in French, there is one scene where the mice are helping her sew the gown and pull and tug, in French, they say " Ho hisse" (heeve ho). She would wait for that one scene, and after that, she was done, she didn't care about the prince or the ball, she just wanted to hear the mice say Ho Hisse!
I'll take Mulan over The Wiggles any day, and as much as I enjoyed the Dora phase, Ratatouille and Toy Story are much more enjoyable on a long car ride, to me anyways. In an ideal world, we wouldn't be watching anything, but actually, I don't believe that. I think it's OK for my kids to watch some TV and some movies, provided they have been screened by my first. Theses days, the heavy rotation is Charlie and Lola, Bo on the Go, Backyardigans and Curious George.
I do try very hard not to let "branded products" permeate our lives. We have princess underwear and we have pretty much every Dora board game ever made, but like AmFam, I balk at Princess Cereal.
Lately, I have been fighting another battle. Keeping High School Musical I/II from entering my house. That's right. She's not 5 yet, and somehow, the tweenster phenomena has infiltrated the pre-K class. At the beginning of the school year, the little girl in our car pool would talk endlessly about HSM. Dumpling had no clue what she was talking about, and I would quickly turn the conversation over to something they both knew. I thought it was just the one girl. I quickly found out how wrong I was..... I figured out how 4 year olds came to even watch HSM: older siblings. The particular kid in our car pool is actually the oldest in her house.... which is weird. But the other girls who are very into HSM have an 8 or 9 year old sister. I personally thought HSM was more for the tweenster/teenager crowd, but in speaking to my 14 and 16 year old nieces, I was quickly informed that they would NEVER watch such a kiddy movie, and that in fact, 8-10 year olds were the target audience.
With families around here averaging 4 kids, it's understandable that the younger siblings would end up watching with the older ones. The kid in our carpool saw it with her cousins while staying at her grandparent's house. But here is the thing. The mother then bought it for her. For her then 4 1/2 year old. Who is now completely versed in the entire thing. She can rattle off every word to every song. I know. Because she turned 5 yesterday and had a party at school and someone gave her the CD. And this morning, when she got into the car, she asked to listen to it. I was curious to see if my instincts were right on this one, so without showing Dumpling WHAT I was putting in, I told her we would listen to her little friends music, just this once.
First of all, the idiot-savant of HSM proceeded to introduce every song with "this is the song with the pretty girl and the other girl, and the main boy" or "in this song, the girls and boys hold hands" and finally "this song has only boys. it's stupid. I like the songs with the boys AND girls".... The music is sooooo sugary-pop, and clearly, there are no objectionable lyrics or anything.... but it's a movie about TEENAGERS in HIGH-SCHOOL. My kid is in PRE-K!
When we got to school, I gave the kid her CD back and thanked her for bringing it, but that from no-on, we would keep listening to the music her mommy and I had agreed on at the beginning of the year (Dan Zanes, Wiggles, non-children's stuff). But I know for a fact that when the mommy picks them up, she is going to put it on. And it bugs the crap out of me. Because this is one Disney line am I not going to cross, not in pre-K.
Brava to you. *Some* mom has to have the spine to say no to this sort of gateway media or every toddler will be dressing like Britney on one of her more-sexy-than-crazy days. The problem is so many other parents think anything their kids like must be fine, and then it's the rest of us who have it harder because of their leniency.
Posted by: eliz | January 23, 2008 at 09:43 AM
When my older daughter was 4 she had a playdate at a friend's house where they put on bikinis and pretended they were Britney. The friend had a 14 year old sister; my daughter had no idea who Britney was. Fortunately five years later neither of my daughters know much about Britney, but I am guilty of introducing my 5 year old to HSM through her sister, who is 9. The 9 year old mostly watches these movies when her sister is asleep, but the little one has seen both movies on long car trips, and she enjoys the songs. It's probably a good thing that it is geared to tweens rather than high school kids because it is pretty wholesome. That said, I wouldn't buy the movies or the music for a Pre-K or K kid either. Good for you for drawing the line.
Posted by: Donna | January 23, 2008 at 10:34 AM
Well, it's certainly better than having your daughter memorize the words to the songs in Grease. I'm waiting for her to ask me what a "p*ssy wagon" is, or what "the chicks will cre@m" means. (Disguising the words not out of prudery, but out of not wanting you to get lots of weird searchers...)
Posted by: OmegaMom | January 23, 2008 at 01:47 PM
I agree. There are far worse things for the little ones to be exposed to than HSM. I agree that it is a little old for a 4 year old, but at least it is clean.
Posted by: Reach For The Stars | January 23, 2008 at 03:47 PM
If you're not comfortable with it, then bravo to you for drawing the line there. I do agree with the others that the movies are very clean. The heroes don't even kiss in the first movie that I can recall. And the message is about being true to yourself. So it could be worse. I'm laughing at OmegaMom's comments because I had the exact issue with Grease. The kids love the songs, but I turned off the subtitles in hopes they wouldn't understand the lyrics.
Posted by: Sister Carrie | January 23, 2008 at 08:42 PM
Yeah I hear you. My 6 year old first watched it with cousins last summer and now LOVES it (only HSM 2, HSM is 'so boring Mom') because her 10 year old best friend loves it. I've never seen it or actually heard the songs - except as sung by the 10 and 6 year olds. And also when the 10 year old's 3 year old sister sings them. I have to admit it is pretty funny in a twisted way to hear a 3 year old singing the break up song "I've got to move on and be who I am, I just don't belong here, I hope you understand".
Posted by: elaine | January 23, 2008 at 10:21 PM
My Goddaughter, who is five, just got the HSM Wii game for Christmas. It is EVERYWHERE. Although I guess I didn't realize that it is Disney. This cements my decision to buy stock in Disney. Before we ever make it to Disneyland. Because that way I won't feel quite so bad about paying seven dollars for a soda and 50 bucks to go to a special dinner to meet the princesses. And no, I do not want my kids to be into Disney princesses. In fact, I am know as the Disney-hating killjoy by my friends. But if their one and only dream when they turn five is to go meet the princesses, I will clinch my teeth and grin and bear it. Knowing all the while that my purchases and the purchases of all the other suckers at the park will hopefully drive up profits, thereby ensuring a higher stock price.
And because the rides are cool.
Posted by: Amyesq | January 25, 2008 at 10:41 PM