40 Ways to Feel like a Princess Every Day

​I have always been fascinated by the concept of “princess” across different cultures.  As some of you know, I was born and raised in the Netherlands, a country with a "real deal" royal family. I grew up celebrating Queen’s Day and watching the royal family on TV during important national events.  Fast forward a few decades, I’m now a mom, raising kids on the other side of the world.  

When our daughter was little, I was struck by how popular the princess themed toys are in the United States. While I have always loved our kids playing pretend games (with or without dress up), I'm not comfortable with the stereotypes that sometimes come along with the concept of “princess.” Specifically, I don’t like the helpless princess that waits until a prince comes along to rescue her from a bad situation….. This just doesn’t match my concept of “princess” and doesn’t do anything for any of our daughters as we try to raise them to be strong, capable and responsible women.

Reflecting (and yes, possibly overthinking all of this), I started pondering what the positive character traits of a princess are, or even better…. could be.  What if our daughter could be a “princess," what type of person could she strive to be?  I wouldn’t want her to be concerned about physical appearance.  Or the brand name of her clothing. Or caving in to peer pressure just to fit in.  However, these are exactly the pressures our society and media puts on our girls: to be perfect, to be sexy, to follow trends...

I decided to write down 40 ways ANY girl could feel like a princess every day. You will find that these ways don’t cost money and have a lot more to do with positive character and being a fun loving kid.  I have made my “40 Ways to Feel like a Princess Every Day” a free printable (you can click on the image below to download the pdf and print). I  hope you will share it with your daughter and other special girls in your life wherever they live around the world.  Because it is important that they know they are special and beautiful just the way they are.