My Daughter’s Obsession with Elsa Hair

I can vividly remember the day my 3-year-old daughter Audrey asked for a large amount of food as I was serving her lunch (which was completely unusual for her), and when I questioned her about it, she said, “I want to get bigger so I can have Elsa’s hair!” What??!! She’s brilliant, right? All she needs to do is eat more fruits and veggies, or in this case, a BIG lunch and she’ll have the hair she wants?

My first reaction was to laugh because I thought it was hilarious, but the more I replayed this moment in my head, the more I became increasingly uncomfortable. I realized my discomfort was because I want her to love the hair God gave her, but I also realized at the age of 3 that she wouldn’t see this as a problem as I do.

Then there was the day she was awkwardly pulling one of her friend’s hairstyles that was in a braided ponytail. I knew she was only pulling on it because she liked it (and wanted one just like it) but couldn’t communicate what she was feeling (adults are guilty of this, too), so I helped her find the words to communicate to her friend that she liked her hair and fortunately this has not happened again.

At the age of 3, her standard of beauty was being insidiously shaped by media outlets, and in her world view, princesses wore crowns at all times and had long, flowing (in the case of the movie Frozen) blonde hair. What I do know is that your hair is your crown. When you feel good about how you look, that propels you into the world as a successful and productive person. I was confused and did not know what to do. After reflection, I knew exactly what I needed to do. So we (my husband and I) sprung into action and started to tell her frequently that her hair is her crown and that when you are a princess everyone already knows that. You don’t have to wear a jeweled crown. We tell her that she is special as our Audrey and sometimes we even call her Princess Audrey. We tell her we love her so much and all of the normal words of encouragement that children need to hear to establish self-worth and a healthy level of self-esteem.

From that first Elsa moment to today, my husband and I always tell her we love her hair just the way it is. We tell her that her “Audrey hair” (as we often call it) is so beautiful. We list other positive attributes as well. Now when I twist or braid her hair, I ask what style she wants and often she still says that she wants Elsa’s hair. But, she will sometimes say she wants her hair “like Princess Tiana’s hair” or recently when her grandmother was doing her hair, she said, “I WANT A THOUSAND BRAIDS!!”

It will be a long time before her hair is long like Elsa’s if that is even genetically possible, but that is okay. What I do know is that the hair she has is beautiful and more importantly due to the swift intervention of her parents, she now knows that it’s beautiful, too, just as it is.

Maya Sutherland
Maya is a full-time SAHM who squeezes in part-time work as a Local Childcare Consultant for an au pair agency.  She was born in Ohio but has spent most of her childhood and adult life in Florida. She is André's devoted wife and mother to Audrey, Mason and her fur baby, Egyptian Mau cat named Midnight. Maya earned an A.S. in Culinary Dietetic Technician and a B.A.S in Supervision and Management from Florida State College at Jacksonville. Her professional background is in management and most recently she managed a skilled nursing facility food service department staff of 15.  Maya has a long-time love affair with food and is happiest when she is in the kitchen preparing fresh, homemade meals for her family, utilizing her numerous gadgets and food preparation-specialty items. She also is an aspiring business owner but hasn't figured out what she wants to do 'when she grows up' yet.  In her spare time, she loves painting rocks, coloring using colored pencils,  yoga,  listening to podcasts or audiobooks,  and online shopping. You can follow her at Instagram @5spicechef, and Facebook @5spicechef.

9 COMMENTS

  1. This was a great read. As a mom of a two year old girl, I feel it is important to be in tune with how our children are viewing the world and, as this article shows, their standard of beauty. Great parenting reminders!!

  2. Wow Maya, I love this! The world today makes it so hard for kids to love themselves exactly how they were born. Keep up the great work!

  3. Beautiful, I can relate with trying to teach your children to love the vassal (your body) that God gave you. I have 10 y/o twin boys and one is much larger than the other. 100% genetics, not a growth or developmental thing, believe me I had it all checked. The smaller one has always disliked being small and when he was about your daughters age said something like “if I eat my veggies, I’ll grow as big as my brother”. Or heartbreakingly once said “I wish I was born first so I’d be bigger”. We are still working through this, the good news is that he has a dr prescribed extra large bowl of ice cream every day (and his brother gets a smaller one ?). Thanks for sharing!

    • Thank you for sharing your perspective! I can’t imagine how hard this is for your son. The extra ice cream sounds nice though ?.

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