“If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside.” Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess.
That sentence is in the banner of Section M of The Wall Street Journal last weekend. The headline to the article announces, The Royal Treatment. The sub-headline reads, “Little girls enchanted with princesses reign in kiddie kingdoms with regal details like castle murals, carriage beds and Cinderella chandeliers; a $70,000 ‘pink explosion’ playroom…” The Caption to the picture reads in part, “Ms. Kickhout is spending roughly $70,000 to build a playroom for the girls that will include a performance stage, a treehouse and a mini-French cafe. A $20,000 custom rug will have colorful pathways to the play areas.”
I have read with bemused bewilderment of today’s professional women who want it all. A complete life is made easier if someone builds a $70,000 playroom. It is, or course, helpful to have additional benefits, a $20,000 custom rug sporting “colorful pathways leading to play areas.”
Don’t you feel that life is like that? Money to do anything and it is helpful when someone or something lays out a plan. Don’t think about life and its issues, problems and challenges. Wait for someone else to make decisions that will gently present an acceptable, comfortable way through life.
Reality makes a $70,000 play area and a $20,000 rug extravagant. Most people pay $20,000 for a car and buy it on time, sometimes over seven years. This poverty is a disappointment not letting any woman to live a full life, where she has it all.
It is also a horrible circumstance when one has to go to Starbucks, a regional chain, a local coffee joint or McDonalds when “a mini-French cafe” is not readily available. Having to travel to Paris, France, to Paris, Texas or to Perris, California will break the spirit of any human being and no woman can overcome.
It is bad practice to let children draw, fingerpaint or paint. There’s all that dirt and mess. It might be on the furniture. Children doing those activities are empty. The child learns nothing but is left with a day of senseless, random activaty – motion, impulse, glimpses from the imagination and have carefree time to grow. It is better that the child remain clean, regimented, structured and inhibited. Low expectations are the best way to teach men and women how to have it all.
The pink play arena is best. Girls will learn…. and know… and expect…
muymue 