Disney Princesses

Last night I went down to my section. I barely made it in the door before Luvia grabbed my hand, pulled me into the sala and sat me down. “Have you ever been to Sleeping Beauty’s Castle?” Wha? “Umm… yes? Why?” “AHHH DIOS MIO – MUCHA – ELLA FUE AL CASTILLO DE BELLA DURMIENZAAAAAAA!!!!” (My God – girls – she went to Sleeping Beauty’s castle!) A bunch of the girls then came running into the sala to ask me all about my experiences at “the castle.” How big was it? Who REALLY lived there? Did I meet Sleeping Beauty? What was she like? Was she pretty? And then the hardest question of all…does she really exist.

How do you answer a question like that when you’re surrounded by a group of inquisitive 10 year olds, without crushing their belief in the idea of a fairy tale? Sure, their lives have been anything BUT a fairy tale – but that doesn’t mean that SOMEWHERE real life fairy tales don’t exist. So what do you say?

Me: “Well, not exactly…but they exist in stories…and they exist in your mind. So somewhere they do exist.”
Margarita: “So they don’t REALLY exist”
Me: “Well, not in the way that you’re thinking, but there are people at the castle who ACT like the princesses and who are really nice and pretty and take pictures with the people who come to visit them.”
Luvia: “Where are these people?”
Me: “Well there are LOTS of princess castles (referring to all the Disney Lands in the world) and when you visit the castles you can meet Cinderella and Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, Pocohantas, Mulan, Jasmine, Ariel and ALL the princesses.”
Cata: “You mean there all in the same PLACE?”
Me: “That’s right – but they are real people who ACT like the princesses”
Margarita: “So they all speak the language of the place they live, like the princesses in France speak French?”
Me: “EXACTLY – so they are LIKE the princesses, but they aren't ACTUALLY the princesses. The real princesses are in the stories.”
Luvia: “Oh… … … … … COOL!”

I think I did an alright job without dashing their idea of fairy tales – what do you think?