Challenge #01940-E116: Pax Princeps
My son now has a five year old daughter. He referred to her as 'Princess' and I had to tease him. "What are her duties as a Princess? Does she negotiate treaties between her dolls and her teddy bears? Does she preside over public events? Does she have any input on new legislation?"
It backfired. Now she DOES negotiate treaties among her stuffed critters. -- Bard2DBone
Most little girls like to play Princess. Most little girls do so by wearing sparkly, frou-frou dresses and lots of plastic jewellery. Tia was not one of those kids. She played Princess in other ways.
First, she negotiated peace between the Littlest Pet Shop and Polly Pocket. Then, she made a treaty between the plastic dinosaurs and the matchbox cars that were hers because her brothers had forgotten they owned them. For her next step up, she negotiated dessert rights and rules between the kids and her parents. Older siblings, younger siblings, and the conditions upon visitation.
Then, for her ultimate feat of negotiation, she began working on a truce between her eldest siblings and the little ones. Which was a tough one, because it required intermediaries (mom and dad) and a written treaty that everyone could abide by as soon as they could understand it.
"This is your fault," said Kesha, the eldest. Glaring at Dad with her arms folded. "You kept calling her 'Princess' all the time and encouraging her."
"I thought it was adorable that Tia was playing Humanitarian Aid and Negotiating Peace," said Dad. "And I still think this is a wonderful life path for my Princess. You have to admit, she's good."
Kesha grumbled to herself and refused to admit any such thing. She did manage something audible on the theme that this entire affair was not, in fact, at all fair.
"We all agreed," said Tia. "That makes it fair. Mom said."
"It's still not fair that this got negotiated by an eight year old."
"I'm eleven and you know it. This is one of the things you have to work at stopping, Kesha. According to the treaty."
"And the penalty clause includes going without your phone for an evening," said Dad, making give-it-here motions.
In eight more years, when Tia talked down a 'lone wolf' gunman at her high school, Kesha would be proud of her little sister. But in eight more years, Kesha would grow out of being a surly teenager who wanted everything to go her way or else. She'd have a life of her own, a job, and an understanding of how tough life could be for others.
Some would say that the moral of this story was, Don't call your daughters 'Princess'. Tia's dad insists that the moral of this story is, Encourage your daughters to be real Princesses.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Goodluz]
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