Disney Dilemma

So I'm getting ready for my Half Marathon in Disney come January.  This will be my second Half, and both will have been at Disney World.  I'm super excited for it, but because it is at Disney I find myself thinking a lot about the place, what it represents, the movies, the Princesses; which of course include the....HAPPILY EVER AFTER. 

When I became a mom of my first little girl, I vowed that I would not become one of those Princess pushing parents.  My girls were going to be level headed and practical.  Period.

Now ask me how long that lasted....?  Not long.  Their merchandise is just too cute, the music is awesome (especially when you hear your little girls trying to sing along in their little girl voices...ADORABLE!!) and girls in general are just drawn to that type of stuff. 

I worried that my girls would get caught up in this whole fantasy world and create these unimaginable high expectations and never reach their real potential because they were wasting their time chasing a dream.  During one of my runs I was running and thinking about this, my job as a mom seemed heavy at the thought that I have to balance out this message from the movies and make sure that my girls don't get swept up in this theme and ultimately get pulled down river without a paddle.  But as I was falling into despair of what I was up against, a light shown through and something clicked.

I have nothing to worry about BECAUSE they are just fantasy!  They aren't real and the events in these movies are just so outrageous and impossible there is no way my girls would expect an outcome like that in the movie.

Here are my examples, (in alphabetical order):
Aladdin-  Magical Genie that helps him get the girl on his FLYING CARPET!
Beauty and the Beast- Enchanted castle
Cinderella- Fairy God Mother who turn TALKING MICE into horses!
The Little Mermaid- Um....Mermaids?! 
Sleeping Beauty- Fairy Ladies and a witch who turns into a giant dragon.
Snow White- A witch out to kill the Princess because a TALKING MIRROR told her the Princess was prettier.

And just like that the chains of worry fell off and I no longer worry about the message these movies are conveying to my girls.  I know that it is through the way they see their Dad and I interact and how we make a marriage work that is ultimately going to teach them how to have their own Happily Ever After.

Now I just have to tackle the issue as to why all the Disney movies don't have the parents around, or killing the parents, or just one parent doing the raising...seriously, what's up with that?  I guess that would be another post.