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Health & Fitness

From Frances To Pinkalicious: What do We Want our Girls to Learn?

What should our daughters be reading?

As a child, I remember loving books about Frances. Russell Hoban's cuddly badger was stubborn. She wrote songs that rhymed at all costs, even logic.  She loved bread and jam and skipping rope, and she endlessly tested her parents. When her friend Thelma tried to trick her out of a tea set, you can be sure Frances came out on top in the end.

Of course, Frances is, in many ways, a product of the 1950's and 1960's from whence she came. But she is a kid. The genuine, rough-around-the-edges article.  She isn't just a girl. Parents of today's girls probably know what I mean. We've come so far as women, and there are countless shining female role models of whom we can really be proud.  And then there are Bratz dolls. (What are these things anyway? Who looks like that?  They have eyes like a Pekingese! Barbie may be a little top-heavy but at least she's an astronaut! But I digress...)  

Yes, Frances had a mother who stayed home and cooked and cleaned and wore an apron. Yes, when the hammer of discipline did come down on Frances, it came from her father, a pipe-smoking, paper-reading stereo-type in many ways. These roles are generic representations of a bygone era in American culture, but PINKALICIOUS IS NAMED PINKALICIOUS. I am tempted to just rest my case there. But of course, I won't.

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Girls are not out of the woods. They may have every opportunity to succeed in the same areas where boys are finding triumph, but not if their parents succumb to the forces of rampant Princess-mania that surrounds us.  Now, I know many girls do love princesses and all things pink and frilly and magical and sparkly and so on, but that doesn't mean those things should be EVERYWHERE.  When I was a kid, we had Cinderella. That was about it. And it was enough. Apparently, she's got a complex named after her.

Frances is not a princess. Madeline is not a princess. Eloise is not a princess. These characters are curious. They are messy and shrewd and selfish and a delight.  They are not bathed in pink and sequins and one-note "love yourself" lessons.  

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I guess, at the heart of this rant is a little girl who was maybe one part princess, two parts Scout Finch, and six parts mud. Girls need balance.  They need to be allowed to be kids. They are not little ladies. They are not princesses. They are partially-formed people, and they can't always keep their tights clean, nor should they.  Give your daughter the gift of unkempt Eloise with her danties hanging out at The Plaza and her hair an electrified-looking mess. Give your daughter Frances and her rhymes and her anger at her sister.  Trust me, your little girl has her whole life to be Pinkalicious.

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