Day 174: Not All Princesses Dress in Pink

I was never a girly girl.  I never owned a doll or wore dresses, and I certainly never pretended I was a princess.  I was much happier wearing my Gonzo football sweatshirt and running around playing outside.  I did have a Cabbage Patch Kid and played with My Little Ponies, but that's about as girly as I got.  I'm not sure I ever even owned anything pink, unless you count my neon pink attire of the 80s.  I eventually grew out of my tom-boy phase, but I still can't be bothered to wear make up and am more comfortable in sweats than a dress.  I now own plenty of skirts and like wearing the color pink, and love buying adorable little outfits for my daughter.  She loves pink and purple, and can it really be true that I have a daughter who loves to play with dolls?  She has dresses that she loves to wear in the summer, and every time she puts one on, she says, "I'm a princess!"  Sometimes she even gives a little twirl.  It's very cute. We've never watched the classic princess movies so I don't know if she really knows what the traditional princess looks like, but she knows that my husband calls her his little princess, so I think that's where she got it from.

But don't let her pink-wearing, doll-playing, occasional dress-twirling fool you.  My little girl loves playing with dinosaurs, cars and trucks, digging in the mud, and getting dirty.  And boy is she tough!  A lot of this has to do with having (and idolizing) an older brother, but part of me also thinks she is a little like I was in that way.  I love many of Jane Yolen's books, so when I heard about this one, I knew I had to check it out.  It sounded just like the kind of book my kids would love!  We brought it home from the library the other day and it was an instant hit.  "Not all princesses dress in pink.  Some play in bright red socks that stink, blue team jerseys that don't quite fit, accessorized with a baseball mitt, and a sparkly crown!"  I loved the message of the book the minute I read the title, and think it is an important one for all girls (and boys) to hear.  Princesses come in all shapes and sizes and have a variety of interests and talents.  They can build things with tools, splash in mud puddles, climb trees, or play sports, all while being powerful, strong, and beautiful.  Some of them might wear their sparkly crowns all the while, but others won't.  Either way, it doesn't matter.  Our daughters can grow up to be anything they want to be, and I hope that's a message that they will always take to heart.