I Wish I Was...

The other day in the car, my 4 year old daughter said to me,

"Mom, I wish I was a REAL princess".

Cringe. I told her she was a real princess, and in her almost patronizing way she acknowledged she knew that, but still. "A REAL princess", she repeated.

Is it starting already? This horrible part of being a girl. The wishing-I-was-something-else part. I thought this would hit around school age. When she started to notice the differences between herself and her peers. But how could I not see the the "danger" in her obsession with all things princess? Of course there is something glamorous in the lifestyles of the rich and...Disney. I'm sure I'm reading into this more than her 4 year old statement intended. Maybe she didn't mean "I wish I was as pretty as a princess. As thin as a princess. As rich as a princess. As quick-to-attach-a-dark-handsome-prince as a princess." But one day it will be that. There will always be someone smarter, thinner, shorter, funnier, more popular than her. Someone who catches that certain boy's heart a little faster. Someone who will dance better, sing better, throw a ball better. It's that way for everyone. But more than anything I hope she gives her all-HER best. And that she's happy with that. Maybe I want her to learn this early on, so she doesn't struggle with it into adulthood. (Like her mom.)

So to my dear future daughter-remember this quote from Henry Van Dyke;

"Use what talent you possess. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best."

You can always be your own best. And that will always be enough.

Oh, and you are a real princess.

Love, Mom (Brooke)