Happily Ever After

Living in Cambodia has meant that my children are ignorant of much of the popular culture of western society. Or so I would have thought. Recently, my sweet, almost four year old daughter has proved that at least in some areas, she is a typical little western girl.

Esther has discovered princesses.


Despite being hundreds of miles from any reasonable toy store and having no television, my daughter can rattle off, with amazing accuracy, the names, details, habits and hobbies of any of the numerous princesses that Disney has created over the last 100 years! She can re-tell almost all the traditional stories verbatim, and probably most significantly, is entirely convinced that she herself is a princess. Not the reincarnated type - just simply Esther - princess of Ratanakiri.

You may wonder how this reveals itself in everyday activities. In the laundry, its obvious from the 5 or six pretty dresses for washing that she has changed into every few hours the day before. In the bedroom, it's the contents of the dress up box constantly upturned and the various pieces scattered around the room. In my room its the search for any piece of jewellery, lip stick or nail polish that she can get her hands on to borrow for a moment. If we colour in, she recolours the two princess colouring books she has been sent from Australia, if we are learning alphabet letters, its best to attach them to princess names for easy recall and - you guessed it - if we're drawing, its almost always one of the princesses (although the resemblance would only be clear to a four year old!) She reads, acts, sings and tells the stories on a daily basis, with her very helpful little two year old brother taking the various roles of the wicked step mother, the handsome prince, or the mouse that becomes a coachman - depending on the moment! We ration the two dollar DVDs that we have bought from the local market. Sometimes they simply get lost ... until a few weeks later when mummy is ready to allow them again.

She prances (and dances) around the house, asking and reminding us all regularly of how pretty her dress is, how long her hair is, and how kind her latest character is. But even princesses have some entertainment value. Last week she told us that her brother would "fall to his doom", for being naughty. Asked for an explanation of that experience, she confidently replied that it meant he could crack his bottom and fall over.

Recently, I was with a good friend, who also has a little princess about the same age as Esther, She lamented about what all this princess business was teaching our little girls about real life. Are these princess fantasies actually setting our precious little girls for disappointment when it doesn't all end up happily ever after with a handsome prince? I spent a long time reflecting on her comment, and as much as I love and admire that friend deeply, I concluded a different opinion.

I love to watch Esther dancing around the house lost in her imaginary fairy land. It's a place so far away from real life. So carefree, So happy. So perfect. The bad guys always get caught and the good guys (who are also attractive, kind and always have a perfect physique) end up living happily ever after in the beautiful palace in the land of perfectness.

I figure there is so much sadness and brokenness for her to see and unfortunately experience in her future, that a bit of fairy land is actually very good for her now. She is four. Home is safe and she is happy. She is our little princess. If I can instill into her little heart that fact now, and she can carry it with her throughout her life, then I feel that I would have embedded something very important and valuable. And I'm grateful that the princesses can help me with it!


Long after she forgets her dress up box, and can no longer recall the hobbies of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, she will remain my princess. I hope she will always know that deep in her heart and maybe she might even live happily ever after.