As I write this my sons are sitting and watching Sleeping Beauty. There are several reasons I allow, and honestly encourage, my boys to watch “Princess” movies. I wrote a series of posts on my own blog about it awhile back.
That is part of what leads me to today’s post.
Another part is related to news reports of preschoolers and kindergartners being accused and charged with sexual harassment. As Mommy to two affectionate little boys it worries me.
We were at a local restaurant’s play place a couple weeks ago. It was the middle of the day and Aedyn (2.5 years old) was the only child in there. We watched him play through the glass and everything was great.
After awhile a babysitter brought a little girl around his age in; they were waiting on the little girls mommy. The two kids were having fun chasing and climbing and sliding down the slide.
During all this running around and climbing I noticed that the little girl had nothing on under her dress but a pair of Disney Princess panties. (My opinion on letting little girls climb in dresses/skirts without shorts or leggings is probably better saved for a different blog.) Opinion on attire aside, I began to worry.
It’s not strange for Aedyn to see a character on a shirt another child is wearing and go up and point to it. Other children do the same thing to him. So what can I expect but that if he sees The Little Mermaid or Belle or Jasmine under a little girls dress he’ll want to look at that article of clothing? He doesn’t care that they’re panties, he just sees the princesses.
Aedyn’s only 2 and a half, we’re working on personal space, but he’s still just learning about asking other kids before he gives hugs and backing off if they don’t seem to like it. We’re working on the concept that we don’t touch other people private areas, but he’s still little more than a baby and developmentally barely grasps the concept of secret or private.
To be honest, he still insists that any female he likes is a boy. I’m not sure that he really has grasped the difference between girls and boys yet…
But the age where a child can be charged with sexual harassment is dropping and quickly. And goodness knows that Aedyn would be the one in trouble and not the little girl’s babysitter or mom for not covering her underwear.
I don’t know that there is a solution or even a right or wrong in a situation like this, but I do know that before I had boys I never thought I’d be worrying about this issue at age 2!
By Contributing Author Heather Schweich of 2 Sleeping Babies
