Is Your Daughter a Princess?

"How To Be God's Little Princess" is a book that tells little girls...well, how to be God's little princess.  There are descriptions on how to make the best pink cookies, how to wear a tiara, and how to earn money at home....among other things.  Irritated yet??

Let me start this post by saying I have a daughter that is as girly-girl as the next girly-girl.  She loved to dress up when she was little.  She adored tea parties and baby dolls.  She is a "princess".  She always denies it but, trust me, with three older brothers she is a prin-cess!

Having said that, let me say that I have serious problems with what is commonly called "Princess Theology".  This is the thought that a little girl is God's princess.....pampered, pure, precious.  What, you may be asking, is wrong with that?  Well, that is what this post is about....let me give you a list.

1.  Purity goes both ways.  Often while girls are in the Princess classes learning about modesty and purity the boys are being taught to be fierce warriors for God.  Why aren't the boys being taught to be pure?  Why aren't our girls being taught to be fierce warriors for God?

2.  Princesses are typically for show.  Name one that does a real job.  Not to dis Princess Kate in all her pregnant glory but what good is she really?  She's having a baby and everyone is ecstatic.  I'm sorry.  No offense, but I want more for my daughter.  There is an incredible shallowness involved in this theology.  Princesses are beautiful and vapid.  Think of the symbols of a Princess......tiaras, scepters, glitter, a Prince.  Ick.

3. Being a Princess doesn't bring automatic value.  Some see this as an attempt to help young girls value themselves and improve their self-esteem but let's give the culture of Princesses a little thought.  The daughter of the king was often married off to another guy to solidify borders or create alliances.  They are passive and let others take care of them.  Princesses, unlike Queens, are typically not take charge kind of people.

I want so much more for my daughter.  I want her to be strong, loving, passionate, real and so much more.  Encouraging my daughter to be a Princess, even a Princess of the King of Heaven, is not what I dream for her.  I want her to know that she is a child of God just like every other person created.  Just like her brothers.