Any Tips on How to Avoid Creating a Disney Princess or Disney Addicted Child?

Yes, I allow my kids to watch the movies (but not all of them or all the cartoons) and they pretend to be Spiderman, Batman, Peter Pan..., but I bought them a generic superhero cape so they can be whoever they want. I don't ever buy Disney related products, bedding, toys.... maybe a few coloring books but that's it. My boys are well adjusted and have great imaginations, but still love their Disney/Pixar heros without being overloaded by them. It's nice that they don't expect to get the new Iron Man mask or every movie when they come out, because they know our limitations.... not just with branded commercial items, but with any excessive buying of toys/games... and we donate less played with toys often as well, so they don't get attached or 'need' everything.

It's fine being a princess, just so long as her dress up chest also has a superhero cape, or a lab coat, or cowboy hat and such as well.

I'm a Princess child entertainer, but I don't do a Disney princess. You can teach a lot with them like manners and such. I especially like her and her book:
http://princessamerah.com/

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We don't do Disney. We don't have cable and we don't watch Disney movies on DVD. My Husband and I don't particularly enjoy Disney, we don't actually avoid it either, but usually watch something else.
My daughter still loves princessess and Ballerinas though, she just doesn't know any of the Dinsey characters. As for wearing high heels etc.... I buy my daughter's clothes and shoes and I do not care how much she begs, I will buy only sensible clothes and shoes, That includes no heels and no dressy dresses. Period. We have some dress up tutus and gowns for play at home and that's that.

You are the parent and you make the rules. Just because your child likes something, doesn't mean you have to buy it. Imagine she would like strippers instead of princesses... would you buy her products geared towards strippers? NO.
So there's your answer. There will alwasy be kids that have all the latest new items and things you don't approve of, so my take on that is: to each their own, but not in my house.
Good luck!

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I think you need to "successfully navigate away from the powerful clutches" of your daughter! Get her the appropriate amount of stuff for your budget or sweetness tolerance, and then say no to the rest. When she wants new stuff, have her donate some older stuff to a shelter or Goodwill. Christmas is coming, which means a deluge of products, and plenty of parents looking for charities to help them find inexpensive and gently used toys.

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I guess I don't understand why you would want to curve your child's interests. My oldest daughter is 5 and she's gone through a lot of phases. But I would never dream of trying to decide her interests for her. When she was a toddler, she loved Dora. And everyone around her knew it, therefore there was a lot of Dora in our house. Then she got into princesses and now its Barbies. But all along this really girly/princess self was just in her blood. She is a very warm, caring little girl who happens to love being girly. Her sister on the other hand...kinda goes with the flow. Although, she does enjoy to dress up every now and again...she also loves a shovel and some dirt. If your daughter wants to be girly, aka own every Disney princess movie, what is so bad about that? It will be who she is, stopping her, I believe would be wrong.
However all that said, that does not mean you have to buy her everything princess related and then some. But in the end just let her be who she wants to be and not worry about navigating her away from this. (But that is just my opinion)

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I do not understand why you would want to change your daughter? So what she like them now, but she will grow out of it.. Disney is not evil and remember YOU are the parent. If you do not want her to have it, stop purchasing it. Let her know she has lots of toys and until she starts getting rid of some of it or until it is a special occasion, you do not by this stuff.

There were certain commercial things our daughter liked, but we did not make a big deal out of it and then it passed.. Our daughter also knew we did not purchase anything that was not "on Sale".. And since Disney items are not always on sale.. we did not have much of it. Most of it was gifts and that was fine.

She loved most of their videos and we were fine with that.. she knew it was all make believe.

Our daughter had A HUGE collection of dress up clothing. Some of it was purchased and extremely elaborate and other things were from thrift stores and lots of it were gifts.. She spent hours dressing up, She wore a "tail" (started out as a orange boa) for almost an entire year, by the end of the year it was a mess. She knew it had to stay at home on school days and if she was in her going out clothes, no tail, but other than that she wore it everywhere..

Our daughter is now a Jr in college and I noticed on her "want list" A lot of Disney movies are on there. She would like us to look for the DVD''s when we find them used and "on sale".. So we sent out the list to relatives and hey are all on the look out,.

It is a phase it will pass..

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My two boys aren't really Disney addicts. They enjoy Disney toys, movies and books but I've never pushed it on them. We have some toys from some movies and some of the actual movies, but nowhere near all of the gear or toys. However, there are two things I've witnessed with little boys and little girls. First, little boys LOVE to play with toy guns. If they're not allowed to have toy guns, they will use their fingers, sticks or any other object. It doesn't matter how staunchly their parents are anti-gun or if they never, ever see guns or anything gun-oriented -they go through a phase when they love to play "shoot-em up." This in no way means they're future gun nuts or even gun owners or criminals or police officers or anything. They're just little boys with an innate desire to shoot guns.

It doesn't matter what "brand" it is, necessarily (although a great deal of the dress up clothing and accessory lines belong to Disney) -little girls LOVE to play princess, dress like princesses, pretend to be princesses, etc. I really think it's a pretty normal part of development. After all -who DOESN'T want to be beautiful, loved and wear sparkly, fancy dresses while dancing at wonderful balls -at least when you're 4! She has her whole life to learn that there's a lot more to life and that she should value herself and be valued for her intellect, values, ethics, etc. and not her looks. Enjoy this phase, because it's going to be over in a hurry! You don't have to get her everything, but if she wants a movie or two or a costume or princess Barbie/doll -that's just a little girl for you.

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You are still in the one who is in control of what you buy for your own child. My daughters like the princesses and do dress up in the costumes, but also like a lot of other things too. My oldest's favorite attraction at the Magic Kingdom this summer was the Swiss Family Treehouse. When it came time to choose a backpack for kindergarten, she wanted Fancy Nancy

Expose your daughter to many different stories (through books and DVDs). Choose some where the characters aren't as current and commercial. My daughter loves some old Raggedy Ann books from my childhood and my younger children love a Wishbone video I found for $5.

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One of my neighbors has a daughter the same age as mine. She hates Disney so much anything and every associated with it is banned from the house. Her now 8 y o little high heel wearing, princess doesn't know anything about Disney characters. She was successfully by cutting off completely in her house and from her child. No Finding Nemo or Toy Story. This kid would never be going to Disneyland. My dd has been and went through the princess stage about 3. At 8 is now more of a Tom Boy and sports fan. Just because you stay away from Disney doesn't mean you stay way from other social pressures. I would of rather of had a pretend princess at 3 than a true one at 8. Best just to have a well rounded kid that can make their own choices. You can do it, you buy the toys and turn on the movies.

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Well, for starters...do NOT take her to the Disney ice show :) That began our downhill spiral to everything Princess (my daughter is 3). I do think it will be the child's choice no matter what you do BUT you can balance things with sports and non-princess books...that is what we do!

A word to the wise -- we try not to feed the Disney addiction ourselves BUT you CANNOT control what people buy for birthdays and christmas as much as you like...she got 4 princess barbie dolls for her birthday, a Cinderella dress and heels -- and NONE of it was from us! Good luck!

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Don't subscribe to the Disney Channel, or don't allow her to know about it or watch it. Don't buy the movies. Don't buy the high heel dress up shoes. Don't buy the Disney princess toys. Keep her busy with other toys and activities. You can control what comes into your house, but I would not forbid her from playing with those things when she is with other kids, or make a big deal of how much you don't like it. It will only make it all the more enticing. You may have some, but limited control over all the gifts she will receive from others, especially if you have birthday parties with her little friends.

Now that my girls are 8 and 11, I actually miss those dress up princess days. I'll tell you they go by so quickly, I would cherish each moment my kids treasured "little kid" things. My daughter lived in her dress up clothes, even at age 6, when they were clearly better fitting on a 2-3 year old.

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No offense but take it from experience, the more you fight it the worse it will be. I have to say I felt the same way when my daughter was that way but it was about the Yankees, she insisted on having EVERYTHING Yankees and watched old games every waking minute. What I did was told her she could watch one game after breakfast and another when Daddy got home during the off season and during the season it was whenever a game was on. Then we had to deal with Yankees clothing, you try to find a Yankee jacket in a toddler size and I am talking 26 years ago not now now they have cloths for kids that age but back then NO WAY JOSE. Anyway she would have complete meltdowns in stores that had Yankee stuff and I found the more I fought it the worse she was. Finally my MIL and I got together, found her a jacket without the NY and my SIL sketched the NY out and we managed to make it look very similar to an authentic jacket. She is now going on 28 and still is hooked on the Yankees but then so is the rest of my family. When she was a teenager her baby brother loved Dora the Explorer and she got a dose of her own medicine. I told her to do what I did and go with the flow and within a year he outgrew that going onto Sponge Bob, etc. Bottom line is the more you fight it the worse it is on you. Be glad your daughter is into Disney and Princess because it could be worse, one of my other sons liked Ghost Busters, I think I will end at that one. LOL
Good luck.

Well, for starters...I wouldn't let my daughter insist on anything.

I have avoided most commercial stuff by not having my kids watch TV. My son will be a spaceman this Halloween (he doesn't know that it is BuzzLightYear). We do have some of the golden books on princesses, that are actually really bad condensing of them, but they don't watch movies. Granted, it may be different with my daughter than it has been with my son, but we don't have Thomas the Train obsessions either.

Also, when they want to do dress up, get outfits for doctors, football players, etc., not princesses.

I would suggest not bringing the stuff into the house. You can steer her in a different direction by reading other books and watching other shows. I couldn't believe how fast my daughter latched onto the concepts at 2 1/2 after watching Sleeping Beauty. She was totally fascinated by the magic and witches and fairies...and the prince. We had to kiss her to wake her up all day long! We enjoyed that she enjoyed it and let her have books and other toys. I think that kids this age just have great imaginations and love fantasy, dress up, and stories...but here are other ways to support that interest than Disney princess movies. It's out there and some kids have whole bedrooms that are like pink shrines to Disney but if it's not at your house I think she'll play with what she has. Good luck!

My 4 year old daughter is still in this phase. I introduce other forms of entertainment (Veggie Tales, Alvin, Buzz and Woody).

I know what you mean...one more pink outfit and I thought my head was going to explode! But this is how little girls are and I just go with the flow.

Nanc

fortunately for you, the Disney Princess obsession is relatively short-lived. My now 7 year old daughter hasn't watched or talked about Cinderella, Belle, Arielle, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, or Jasmine in about 2 or 3 years. She would probably be too embarrassed now to watch those movies (even though they probably were designed for 7 year olds!) This is not to say that we don't ever watch a Disney movie. All 3 of my kids enjoyed Princess and the Frog, for instance. But she'll grow out of the princess phase soon enough, so try to enjoy it while it lasts and before she is addicted to ICarly and Sponge Bob....

Well, first of all - don't let her have every toy or every movie. Second - dress up is FUN!!! My daughter, now 6, still loves to dress up, but not just as a princess. She also loves to dress up as a pirate, a doctor, a superhero, monster etc. We love to go to garage sales and Goodwill etc looking for fun hats, bags etc. She keeps her stuff in a plastic tote in her closet and smaller accesories go on her "vanity" (actually an old desk that I painted and put a mirror above it on the wall). Honestly, my daughter doesn't even like ALL the Disney movies, but Tinkerbell is her favorite! FYI - you also have to watch out for the Barbie influence!!!! I guess it was easier for me because I had a boy first, so there was already alot of boy toys and costumes, nerf guns etc around my house. My advice is make sure she plays with blocks, cars and legos too!!!

instead of limiting what you want your daughter to love or not to love, why not expose her to lots of different things and let her make the choice herself. I was the same way. I didn't want my daughter being obsessed with being a princess and the world revolving around her. But she loves the disney movies and dressing up and being "beautiful". but she also loves blocks and playing ball and scooby-doo. She doesn't care if she plays with boys or girls. Wouldn't you rather see the person your child becomes because you gave them choices instead of trying to mold them to a preconceived person. and they'll grow out of it. Before you know it, it'll be high school musical or whatever the 9 year olds are loving these days!

I'd probably not fight it to much. It's allowing her to find who she is. She'll get bored with it and move on. I would however offer up a lot of variety and try to find other things she likes. Strawberry shortcake? Carebears? American Girl Dolls, etc. If it makes you feel better...my son is 3.5 and he is OBSESSED with this pair of woody boots that my mom gave him. Woody light up cowboy boots. He practically sleeps with them on. His famous outfits are pjs and woody boots. I made a rule..no boots outside aka IN PUBLIC! LOL. My reasoning...no outside shoes inside so if he wants to wear woody boots in side he can't ware them outside. It works. He is also obsessed with CARS the movie. But I've noticed some times there are periods where he totally doesn't think about it and then others when its all he is interested in. I know boys are different than girls...

Just don't push the whole princess thing. Get her interested in other toys, movies, etc. Don't buy her Disney/princess stuff for every b-day, X-mas, etc. etc.

We have. Don't get me wrong, she really likes princesses but is by no means obsessed with them. She also likes Ironman and the X-Men. She LOVES Ghostbusters and Scooby Doo. We never really pushed princesses on her. We didn't avoid it we just didn't buy all princess things.

Hi J.,
You can determine what you allow in your house and not buy her those clothes, toys, movies and products. You can let your close family know that you'd prefer to avoid those items. However, not knowing how old your daughter is, once she starts interacting with other kids (preschool, regular school, birthday parties, playdates), she will know these things exist. She may want them and feel left out or be excluded if she doesn't play with or wear what all the other girls do.
My nephew and his wife are trying to avoid the whole princess scene with their daughter, who is 1 1/2 now. Easy at this age.
All things in moderation may be the key here. My daughter enjoyed some Disney movies (Mulan was her favorite and I thought this was great, it showed a strong female character), she had one or two of the princess barbies, at some point she had princess pajamas. She was not obsessed and didn't aspire to be a princess when she grew up! She is now a high school sophomore with purple hair, almost exclusively wears Beatles shirts and is looking into pre-veterinary college programs :)

It doesn't have to be an all or nothing situation.

I've avoided it, though it isn't easy! I let my mother, MIL, and close friends know that I don't want it in mu house. I tell them that I love Disney (and other characters, too) but my daughter doesn't need to wear it, read it, eat from it, etc. You can't avoid it, at a birthday party, someone will get her something, and you just have to let that go. I feel like there are beautiful clothes, classic books, and plenty of educational fun toys without characters, and I just don't want the character stuff in my home. We own and watch plenty of Disney movies, though, and have already taken our daughter to Disney once.

Be clear what is acceptable, have your goals for who you want her heroes and heroines to be. Be excited and confident. Don't cave in - that just trains her in begging, whining and manipulating and that is no gift to either of you. If you are given gifts you don't want her to have, out the door they go immediately. We are a Barbie free zone in our home. When our daughter was given one, it went to the thrift store the next day. If she asked, I just said nonchalantly, "Oh, it's not here. Hey, let's go ... (something that would take her mind off of it)." You are the adult. You are responsible for raising and forming her and her ideas of beauty, goodness, kindness, hard work, honesty, generosity. She needs to see those attributes in the characters in her life. Instead of a movie, go visit her grandma or someone in a nursing home.