“First the worst, second the best, third the ugly princess….”
My ears ring to the constant cries of “It’s Not Fair!” and there is already a bit of competitiveness between the three big kids in our family. Who is the best at this, who should get more of that, who should go first at this, who came last at that. The addition of this lovely little rhyme that recently came home from school did not improve the situation. So I’ve been making a conscious effort to try and realign our ideas on competition and encourage the positives of joining in, doing your best and having fun, rather than worrying about who is first, second, or worse, ugly!
When the sun finally came out after days of rain I asked the big kids if they’d like to make boats to race down the raging river of our drive way. They were very keen!
There was much discussion about how to make a boat that would float the best and go the fastest. Of course the girls thought that their boats would win, because they were much better than their brother at making boats. Muski was unperturbed, he went for a boat with a square sail and high sides, ignoring his sisters comments that it would surely ‘drown’.
There was a lot of shouting as we ran along side the little boats zooming down the side of the drive way. Zoe’s boat tipped over and needed a new sail, and Muski’s boat was slow but certainly not ‘drowning’. Izzy’s boat was in the lead, way out in front, flying along. Zoe’s boat (helped by a little bit of ‘I need to make up time because of my broken sail’ type cheating) was beginning to catch up, and Muki’s boat lost it’s mast and sail completely, but still soldiered on.
Izzy started celebrating her win way before her boat was even close to the gate, but had to eat her words when it hit a snag and went under completely. Zoe just couldn’t keep her cheating fingers away from her boat and ended up capsizing it with her efforts. Muski’s boat sailed past them both, down a treacherous waterfall, and on to cross the finish line first with all of us cheering it on!
As we walked back up the drive way to start all over again Izzy said…
“That was so much fun…. even if I didn’t win. It doesn’t matter about winning when you are having fun.”
And with that the ‘Ugly Princess’ was gone… at least for a little while.
This activity was inspired by a trip to the movies to see Tangled in 3D. It was such a great movie and is now one of our all time favourites.
What’s your favourite Disney movie?
The Lion King, a real classic. With morals, fun songs that never get out of your head. Loads of fun for the whole fmaily.
The Little Mermaid – i always wished, and still do today as a grown adult, that i was Ariel, swimming to the bottom of the ocean in search of the perfect pearl…
Bambi as it was the first Disney movie I had ever seen. I watch the movie with my dad at the drive inn so it’s a memory I’ll treasure forever.
the loin king! i think it is the most beautiful movie ever made it has a quality about it that can’t be expressed with words alone
Cars, I’m originally from Alabama and I love that my son gets to hear southern accents besides mine when he watches this! Its just a great movie and I have to admit, we all LOVE MATER!
As an adult looking back, my favorite movie as a kid would have been Aladdin. My brother is 9 years younger than me, and my sister is 6 years younger than me. There was not much we could all agree on, but it was one of the few things we could do as children that we ALL enjoyed. TO this day I have good memories of it. (and my 4 year old daughter LOVES it!).
As for now – my two children LOVE the TInkerbell series. We have to take the newest – Great Escape on every road trip (great or small). My 2 year LOVES it and was so excited to see her during Disney’s on ICE Princess Wishes – Pinkerbell is what she calls her :).
monsters inc. every age group loves it and we have watched it over and over again as a family – true classic.
Snow White: the kids adore the dwarfs I simply admire the way Snow White must keep 7 moody men in line!!
Alice in Wonderland as my family all like the idea of escaping into an imaginery world especially when they have had enough of each other.
Toy Story
I love Woody
He gives me such a buzz
Fantasia is still my favourite…
Mickey as a magician Bright…
I love the wickedness & the Magic..
He knows every trick…
Pooh’s grand adventure – the acting is superb and the animation appeals to kids and parents alike but the story line is just right for kids starting school – watched 100’s of time
Aladin is my favourite as its a lovely story and Robin Williams is superb in it!
Just one?
Enchanted is in amongst the top of the list.
My daughter loves anything to do with princesses and musicals
cars, cause my boy loves it so :)
I love Cinderella;
She gets pursued by a lovely fella.
Her struggle against her aunt,
But she final gets the Prince, and her cousins can’t.
DUMBO – its the first movie I saw at the DRIVE-IN, I always wondered can elephants fly with such big tummies as my mummy could not fly & she had a big tummy
We are wild about The Lion King. The kids love the story and the adults love the music.
My daughter’s favorite and mine is Finding Nemo. Apart from the amazing animation, the message that you can achieve anything even with a physical impairment (smaller fin) holds true. My daughter was born extremely prem and as a consequence is a lot smaller than her peers and has very mild CP. This does not stop her from achieving anything and trying everything to the max! Finding Nemo also illustrates the overprotective parent that I can really relate to after having nearly lost our daughter at birth. It is hard to fight your protective instincts and let them try on their own, even if it may mean tears and sometimes more pain before they find their own independence and identity.
My favourite Disney movie is Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as it was the beginning of so much Disney brilliance.