Disney Overflowing

Like most households with young children, especially with young girls, our home is awash with Disney. There are few of our toys, particularly Grace's, that don't bare the Disney brand. This makes me uncomfortable because it proves that I am susceptible, not only to advertising and commercialism, but to my daughter's incessant whining and pleading for all things princess. 

When my kids were younger, they thought I was Tinkerbell. I don't know why since I am unable to fly or do magic of any kind. I wouldn't mind Tink's figure though. At the beginning of every Disney movie when she flies across the screen and waves her little wand, they would both start yelling, 'there's mom!', so very excitedly. I really don't know where this came from, and it didn't last all that long. Now when they see her they say, 'that's not my mom'. And after watching Peter Pan today, I'm kind of glad because she is a first class shrew in the movie and I hope my children don't think I'm like that. 

There is a friend of mine whose children thought she was Mary Poppins when they were young. I'm not at all surprised, knowing her and her children. Though they may realize now she isn't Julie Andrews in disguise, I'm sure they still think her practically perfect in every way, because she is. I wouldn't mind be mistaken for Mary. She's beautiful, musical, just a touch acerbic, and able to handle all kinds of children. And she's magic, too.

When I was in high school a boy I know told me that I looked like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I'm sure it was just the longish brown hair that Belle and I share, but it was still a really nice compliment, I thought. And he was just the nicest boy imaginable; all us girls were half in love with him, and since he compared me to a Disney princess in the middle of a large group of people and everybody heard him, that made it that much nicer. Of course, now that I think back on it, it was pretty pathetic that a group of teenagers, boys and girls, would spend their Friday evening watching Beauty and the Beast. That tells you the kind of hell-raisers I grew up with!

So no one compares me to Belle anymore, I'll never be mistaken for Mary Poppins, and my kids are most emphatic that I am NOT Tinkerbell. And all this is ok with me. I like most of the Disney films, and we own a lot of them. They are fun, clean, entertaining, and long enough that I can get showered and ready for the day and not have to worry about what my kids are getting into. But I find that I am avoiding the toys section at stores, and steering Grace away from the princesses when we are there. Disney is just too big, too into everything and everywhere to be something that I want to actively be a part of.