Disney’s Sleeping Beauty is releasing on Blu-ray™ and Digital HD on October 7th, and it has me thinking about how I want to encourage my own princess to follow her dreams! In the movie, Princess Aurora is cursed by the evil Maleficent to die by her 16th birthday. Her parents, of course, want to prevent this at all cost, so they send Aurora away to live an incredibly sheltered life with three fairies.
If you know the story, you know that despite the fairies’ best intentions, Aurora still ends up pricking her finger and falling into a deep sleep. Since it is a Disney fairy tale, it does of course have a “happily ever after” ending, but the overall theme got me thinking about how we, as parents, may hold back our own children and how we can instead encourage them to dream!
Encouraging my princess to dream
Parents, by nature, want to protect their children. While none of us (hopefully!) will ever have to deal with an evil fairy’s curse, we all know that there are so many other dangers out there. It’s too easy to just decide to shelter our kids from everything and hide them in a forest. If you can get fairies to watch over them, even better, right?
Rather than sheltering our daughters, though, isn’t it better to teach them how to stand up for themselves and go after their dreams? How can we do that when all we want to do is wrap them in a bubble? Here are a few tips:
- Give them independence…or the illusion of it. Let your daughter be independent as often as possible. Don’t hover! If she’s too young to send off picking berries in the enchanted forest alone, then at least give her the illusion of independence. Hang back and see where her journey takes her! If trouble arises, THEN step in.
- Let her dream big. Little princesses have BIG imaginations! Encourage those dreams, even if they seem impossible. For example, if she comes to you and tells you that she’s going to be the first woman to walk on Jupiter, don’t squash her dreams by telling her that, as a gas planet, it has no surface to walk on. Encourage her to think of ways around those obstacles!
- Help her find her passion. My own princess has many passions. She loves to dance! She is a creative artist too! I give her plenty of opportunities to explore these interests, as well as any others that she may come to me with.
- Discover enchantment together. Spend time bonding with your daughter over your favorite fairy tales and stories. Rediscover the magic that captured your imagination as a child, then share that with your own princess. Watching Disney’s Sleeping Beauty together is a great way to launch a discussion about following your dreams! You may just be reminded of your own childhood dreams and rediscover a passion that you let go over the years.
Share Disney’s Sleeping Beauty with Your Princess
Remember, Disney’s Sleeping Beauty is available on Blu-ray™ and Digital HD on Oct 7. Order now and share Disney’s ultimate fairy tale with your daughter! This is the first time it’s available on digital HD! Also be sure to check out Disney’s Sleeping Beauty on Facebook!
What is your favorite theme from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty?
That is such an inspiring post and a beautiful reference with Disney 🙂
i dont let my kids watch them movies ,it set up ower lu girl up to fail .u will never find prince charming or 7 lu men in the woods.u have to work for haplessness.we have a lot of grown ass women that still thank they are princess because of Disneys shit .its just a fantasy .jmo
YES, yes, es to DREAM BIG!!!!
I love that you wrote this!!
I love the songs the best, but the love story is sweet too.
This is such a classic! I haven’t seen it in so long, but will have to be sure to get the new edition.
What a classic and so true we need to help guide our daughters to dream big and GO FOR IT!!! great post
This is such a great movie! Sleeping beauty is my favorite!
Sleeping beauty was one of my favorites growing. Might be something to pull out this weekend.
I want my daughter to be a person who has good morals and values. I think that will get her so far in life, just being a genuinely good person.
I love sleeping beauty. I will definitely will be buying it for my girls.
I love that you said the “illusion of being independent” it is so true!
This is the only Disney princess film my daughter hasn’t seen yet. I can’t wait to watch it with her. I have to say I’m an overprotective parent….my kids like to be independent and I’m working on giving them a little bit of that at a time!
I agree with this. I tend to be a protective parent, and maybe I should let go a bit more.
My nieces can’t wait to see this.
Give your kids indepenedence!
My kids are so excited to watch this!
I love your tips; especially the enchantment part. We all need a bit of magic to stay creative and alive.
This is such a cute post. You bring out some great points though.
I am so bummed I had to pack up all the VHS disney movies I have collected over the years. GUess I need to start over with DVDS
I love Disney movies! This makes me want to make it a Disney movie weekend.
Dream big is a huge for me. You can only succeed as far as you dream. So why settle for anything less than.
Great list! Nothing more important than dreaming big.
Dream big…I didn’t let myself do that until I hit my thirties. I’m going to encourage my daughter to do it much sooner!
I loved sleeping beauty! What fun to be able to watch the classics with your daughter and find some life lessons in them!
What a classic! I loved this movie as a little girl and it’s fun to see my daughter enjoying it now.
I agree that we need to teach our girls to dream big and go for what they want in life!
Love your tips, especially letter her dream big! I always tell my daughter she can do whatever he heart desires, she just needs to put her mind to it.
This is a great post. Hovering is the worst thing a parent can do for their kids. You aren’t protecting them if you aren’t letting them learn from their mistakes.
I haven’t seen this movie since I was a kid. I always loved Sleeping Beauty.
This is such a great list. It’s so important to find ways to teach our kids values and you hit quite a few of them 😉