Elsa has caught my son’s eye.
In fact so has Anna, Ariel, and Belle for that matter.
Not long ago we reveled in the excitement of introducing our little family to a day at Disney World for the first time, and joyful as it was, we were surprised at which characters our oldest son was most drawn to.
Sure, he grinned madly upon seeing Buzz and Sully for the first time, and Mickey pulled such a sweet, sincere smile from him that my husband and I about bawled in the middle of a packed out parade.
But when he spotted Elsa? Well, that was it for him. He. Was. Thrilled.
The thing is though, his love of Elsa over say, Olaf, Christophe or Sven, made it a huge deal when it came to treating our little guy to something special at the Disney parks. We searched for something special to reflect this new love of his little life, but frankly it just wasn’t as easy as I expected it to be.
It’s not that I care much about what he chooses to play with, what color it’s primarily made from, or what others would think about it. Actually, I couldn’t give a hoot. But pink and purple sparkly madness? Well, it’s just not always a two and half year old boy’s thing. Blue is fine with him sure, but the amount of glitter and frill added to pretty much all of the Frozen merchandise inside the park is frankly a little unnerving. He’d have loved a doll, I know, but they were SO feminized that he seemed to be put off. Shame.
Finally we settled for a little set of the six main characters, with glitter (the kind that continues for show up for years into the future – thanks Disney) minimized to Elsa’s costume alone, and plenty of room for imaginative play. Job’s a good-un’.
But honestly we were left a little frustrated. I never thought I’d be standing wide-eyed behind my child in the Magic Kingdom, humming and ha-ing endlessly over what treat to pick for himself because the Disney Princess that he loved so much offered such slim pickings when it came to his personal tastes.
Again let me reiterate: he can have the pink and the sparkles. I’m not a parent who minds all that; if it makes him happy then on with the show. I very much doubt that that one toy choice is going to change him in any way that is other than who he is as a person already. And pink is a color for anyone. And sparkles don’t have an owner. Just saying.
But I do wish that he could choose the kinds of figures that his little mind envisions when it comes to these temporary Disney superstars, other than settling for something that he himself seems to automatically equate to girlhood. I hate it for him really; that he potentially feels excluded from his favorite characters, the ones that have captured his heart and inspired his imagination.
No one should feel excluded at Disney World, right?
