Since the beginning of time there has been a battle of good against evil. In our present day, we find our lives inundated with children’s books, novels, cartoons, T.V. programming and movies filled with magical fiction, romance, and fantasy with the all too predictable witchcraft and the evil, scary villain! A point in fact is the new face of this fight found in the fairy-tale princess phenomenon.
The cry from the masses is met with a barrage of the supernatural and literary narratives brimming with dramatic imaginary story lines. This particular genre with its fairy-like spirits in ethereal, heroic and monstrous forms is captivating to children, young people and adults alike. Children are especially susceptible to its alluring charm because their worldview is literal and it speaks to their inner understanding of spiritual reality.
We do have spiritual needs (issues of pride, anger, rebellion and selfishness, to name a few!) that are often beyond ourselves and we tend to fill the vacuum with “make-believe” to make up for the difference we feel we lack. We allow it to offer us a few moments of escape from the real battle with good prevailing, if only, momentarily.
Most of us acknowledge the struggle and know we are going to live somewhere forever, but have little understanding of the what, when, where, why and how. The surge of fantasy-ridden books and films is an after-effect of this need and exposes a society, seemingly, without direction or defined purpose.
From their earliest memories our little girls are swamped with a princess course that introduces them to an unreal world filled with wizardry and lacking strong moral themes with eternal values. They are asked to define love and romance by standards that are not true to life or a representation of clearly defined biblical standards. Our child is needlessly exposed to the illusion of love through the many Prince Charming’s that are so readily available to her in most story lines; however, she is not exposed to the truth of genuine love. She is caught in a quagmire of choices that offer her temporal values, but not eternal ones. Her personal identification with a fantasy character is deceiving on many levels because the charge to discern the good and evil is often obscured by wrong motives and intentions on the part of the “hero” in the story line. Often the attitude of the leading characters is questionable and the continual interjection of clairvoyance and magical fantasy is confounding. The child is left to choose from bad and really bad, instead of from good and bad. Neither choice is particularly clear, but the medium being used (book, film, cartoon, etc.) is “thought” captivating and attention binding. Both of these goals are shortsighted and not fulfilling for the long term.
Living in a post-Christian era, we seek to carve out a more excellent and realistic milieu for our children, these little ones that are so literal and entrusted into our keeping for so short a time. We have found that Christian parents are seeking an alternative to the present princess culture trend in books and films presently available. Their main reason is that worldview influences all areas of life. Every exposure a child has (visual or auditory, etc.) is adding to their life experience and their worldview. Presently, how would you describe your child’s worldview?
Articulating a biblical worldview within our sphere of influence is what The Princess Parables series is all about. They are written to strengthen the belief that God made our little princess special and designed her with destiny and purpose.
The mission of The Princess Parables series is to introduce and encourage the disciplines necessary to step outside fantasy and into the magical realism and authenticity of a loving and accepting God who teaches finding contentment in serving others, not in serving oneself. Although written in fiction, each Princess story is based on fact. It teaches a specific character quality in the name of its Princess and takes the storyline from a Parable that was taught by the greatest teacher ever born. It has been specifically created to put a functional tool into the hands of young mothers (urban, suburban, rural, stay-at-home, teen moms, single moms and married moms), grandmoms, aunts, and teachers, each with a different lifestyle, but all who share a similar desire to be the very best power of influence they can be! The passion to meet the need of every person desiring to cultivate what God has programmed into her Princess potential has been a huge source of motivation and it allows parents to nurture their little ones into genuine greatness.
The innocent imagination of a small child is a book yet to be written and images of truth, hope, loyalty, joy, grace, charity and faith are but a few of the myriad of opportunities lost when the exposure to truth is clouded and “synergized” with fantasy.
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
