Princesses

I was watching a local news magazine last night and there was a piece about the Disney Princesses line of products.  Everything from dolls to clothes to room decor.  The marketing director/creator or whatever of the line asked his team to envision a little girl's room and think of anything that could be "princessified."  The answer was everything.  So they did and they are making millions.  I'm not a big fan of character clothing and decor but dolls and dress up clothes are fantastic in my book.  Imagine away, Abby!  Or, if you prefer, be a firefighter or an alien... whatever.  That's what imaginations are for, right?  To dream impossible dreams and set impossible goals, to pretend and let your mind grow and be everything and anything you can IMAGINE.  So, of course, they have to cut to an "expert" who says how impractical these kinds of toys are and how they set impossible ideals that little girls can never live up to and make them think that they need a Prince Charming to make their lives complete.  You know what I say to this (these) expert(s)?  Suck it.  Maybe if little girls and boys were still aloud to play and pretend and set impossible goals while they are children they might be happier adults.  Everyone is so busy "prepping" our kids to grow up they don't get a chance to be small anymore.  Maybe if we let them have time to use that imagination to discover what it is they really love doing we'd have fewer people graduating from college with a degree they have no real interest in and getting stuck in a career they loathe.  I don't want Abby deciding at 18 years old what she wants to do for the rest of her life.  Maybe we'd have more kids deciding to go to college in the first place because they were able to imagine it as a possibility to learn not just a career path.  Maybe we would have more successful marriages if we didn't tell little girls they had to do everything on their own.  I'm all for equality between the sexes but I'm also for letting my daughter know that life is better with a partner... and I don't care if it's a prince or another princess.

Little Susie Homemaker... Not So Much

Little Susie Homemaker is the perfect wife, mother, housekeeper all in one.  Someone who not only has a perfectly happy family but is able to keep the house clean, the laundry done and dinner on the table every night.  I don't know where she came from or who she is, but I'm pretty sure she's a fraud.  The idea of being able to keep a perfect house and happy family all the time is impossible.  If your home is perfectly clean all the time then something or someone in your life is lacking the attention they need from you.  Maybe I'm just making excuses for myself and my dirty house but I'm just happy that I'm finally caught up on the laundry this week.  I'm letting go of any guilt I may have previously put on myself for not being the perfect housewife.  I think all of us mom's should find our own level of "perfection" and be happy with it.  I'm going to redefine what the perfect housewife is for myself: a happy family and a house that doesn't look like a hoarder lives there is more than good enough for me.