Self Image

Altering this post to include a picture of my little angel so you may see first hand what I speak.


I've been writing this post (albeit in my head) for a while now. I've decided to give it a go and see where I land. Blythe is at an age where she is constantly questioning things and making interesting statements:

"I want my hair down so it will shake"
"Brown isn't pretty" (ouch!)
"I'm not beautiful" (this one hurt the most...she's the most beautiful person in the world to me.)

I thought it was an us thing that she was going through because of where we live, but then, I attended a birthday party that she was invited to. It was a "princess tea" complete with a blonde haired blue eyed adult princess.

All the girls received "gowns" for dress up and wore them the entire time. And they had tea. And tea cake. And cucumber sandwiches.

I endured. Anyhow, there was a little girl, who I think is just a sweet, smart little thing, and cute as a button. Her mother is Indian (let's just say her name is Becky) and her father is caucasian. The girls were served birthday cake on little plates with disney princesses on them...you know, Snow White, Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, and Sleeping Beauty (I'm sure I'm missing someone).

In fact, I know I'm missing someone. Where's the Black princess? The Latina princess? Why are they all white...with the exception of Jasmine (and by the way, Blythe doesn't consider her a princess because she's not wearing a long dress, but blue pants and a bra. To be fair, she's not that into Ariel either. She's half fish.)

I digress. Anyway, at the party, Becky's daughter demanded the Ariel plate, and switched up with other girls in order to get one. When they were passing out cake, the plates got mixed up, and Becky made sure her daughter had the Ariel plate (not that the daughter had expressed it to her mother, Becky did it automatically). For some reason this made me sad.

I don't pretend to believe that I know everything about anything, but Becky actually resembles Jasmine (complete with boob job)and her daughter, who is half Indian and looks Indian, rejects even Jasmine. I WISH there was a Black princess image that I could celebrate with Blythe. I'm not waiting on disney, however.

This world is a crazy thing that constantly makes me stop and consider. Everyday. It's not pretty. Not at all. Who is pretty is my Blythe. And while I don't plan to pump her head full of ego-centric statements that other's will claim untrue, she will have a good and healthy sense of self, and therefore it won't matter what they say. It's one of the most important jobs I have as I see it.