Cinderella...

You can probably tell by my blog header that I like fairytales.
I mean, who wouldn't love to live in a castle and marry Prince Charming? (heehee)


What's wrong with a little dreaming...especially when you are a little girl?
When Taylor was little, I had the words to
"When You Wish Upon A Star" painted around her room.
Jordie had "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"...
If my girls don't believe in fairytale endings,
there is something seriously wrong here. :)


Real life happens soon enough anyway.
And hopefully that real life has a happy ending...
even if it takes awhile to happen.



I'm inspired by my daily espresso minute from iMOM.
If you are a mother, please check this out!
Every day it has the greatest tips for raising kids of all ages.
Today it was all about raising Cinderellas.
It really got me thinking...

Thinking that too often we put down the "Cinderellas" of this world.
What's wrong with Cinderella?
She was kind, generous, gracious, forgiving, loving...
a hard worker who didn't expect her life to be easy...
was grateful for what she had and didn't expect everything in life to be handed to her.
She believed that if she was all of these things...sincerely,
someday her Prince Charming would come.



Hmmm...not such a bad thing to want to be like Cinderella someday.
Nothing wrong with wishing and hoping that by being "a good girl"
that someday you would meet a guy who would recognize that and appreciate that...
and sweep you off your feet:-)



On the other hand, we should be scared...
VERY SCARED...
to raise girls to be like the evil stepsisters.

You know...
girls who are selfish, conceited, superficial, shallow, vain, inconsiderate, mean...
who think that they DESERVE the best things in life NOW...
without having to earn them or work for them...
They are the ones who have the cliques...
the mean girls...


the nasty bullying types...
who belittle those who don't have the latest clothes, phone, car.
And unfortunately, this begins earlier then ever!


You might think this is too harsh...
but this is a very real description of MANY young girls today.

The pressure to "fit in",
the celebrity culture we live in...
the parents who can't say no...
combined with the thinking of many young women
that they "deserve" the best things in life...
that it's okay to go after what you want in life,
no matter what you have to say or do to get it...
is definitely more like the evil stepsisters
than Cinderella.

Not to say we should pamper and create girls who think they are
"entitled" to a Cinderella life...
That was the life of the evil stepsisters.
You could say Cinderella earned her fairytale.



So the next time your little girl says she wants to be
a princess like Cinderella when she grows up,
don't brush it off.
She might be on to something.



Maybe you will tell her the difference between
storybook characters and real life.


That's okay.
I don't remember ever having to sit my girls down and tell them
there was a good chance they would never live in a "castle".


Believe me, there are enough people in this world who can't wait to shatter
dreams and "be realistic".
(As if trying to raise nice girls who have hopes and dreams and are
willing to work for them is a bad thing:)

Maybe your life has been so un-fairytale like that you can't stand the thought of
her believing in happily ever after.
I hope not...


It's like the mother who says no to her child when they ask for the balloon
because it is a waste of money that will either pop or fly away...


But even though we know it won't last forever,
that bright, beautiful balloon is still magical to a child...
still a childhood moment to be enjoyed and cherished.

Maybe there is a little something we can take from
Cinderella for our girls today.



We should encourage our little girls to dream...
and to go after those dreams...
like Cinderella did...
kindly, graciously, morals intact, caring for others
and working hard to accomplish those dreams.

Why write about this today?
Maybe because I simply need to remind myself and my girls
that dreams can come true...
that they take hard work and planning...
and that when faced with the choice...
they should be more like a Cinderella if at all possible!
Because they will always be my princesses...

...in the best possible way.

"Life itself is the greatest of fairytales"
Hans Christian Anderson