Even though my real name is Odile, and I had a long career in professional ballet in a world-class company, it didn’t turn me into a waif-like, spoilt diva. Quite the contrary: I was used to hard work, and lots of it!
When I was still in New York, my late great aunt, who was a Sister of Charity, was attending an operating room nurses’ convention there. She received permission from her superior to stay with my roommate and me while in NY. After observing our lifestyle, which included fairly spartan meals, warming up and stretching early in the morning before heading to the studio, and returning late in the evening after a performance, she remarked, “Odile, you live more like a nun than I do!” She was, of course, referring to the amount of work that a professional dancer has to do.
And no, I’ve never been under any delusion that I’m a princess, a queen, a fairy, or an enchanted swan, for that matter!
There’s nothing wrong with feminine pursuits, as long as a child’s body, mind, and spirit are appropriately nurtured and educated. But if you find the color pink so sweet that you fear a diagnosis of diabetes, and little girls’ room decorations tacky, by all means decorate to suit your tastes! Possibly a more neutral color scheme, that could actually grow with a child.
FWIW, my younger sister and I were always enthralled by space exploration. Dad stenciled in constellations on our bedroom ceiling, painted the ceiling a deep blue, and painted the stars with fluorescent paint. NASA posters decorated our walls. The highlight of our one childhood trip to Florida was not Disneyworld, it was Cape Kennedy for an Apollo mission launch. There was so much space stuff in our room, you would have thought Annette and I were in astronaut training (I think we would each have given our right arms, figuratively speaking, to have actually toured a spacecraft!) Our Barbie dolls routinely got wrapped in tinfoil as a sort of ersatz spacesuit. When the late Sally Ride flew her first shuttle mission, we were thrilled (despite her orientation, my sister hacked her hair into a Sally Ride style dutchboy hairdo, much to Mom’s chagrin.) And yes, we were both good at math and science.
Mom, for whatever reason, has always been inordinately fond of plaids. So Annette and I, far from having frilly pink chiffon dresses, usually had a Sunday best dress that was blue or brown plaid, usually with some kind of sailor collar. We resembled the kids in the Madeleine series!
I am not much concerned with princesses.
Just kidding of course.