Pretty Pretty Princess.
By JAMILA RIZVI
My dad was always the prettiest of the pretty princesses.
When I was around 7, my sister and I were fans of (okay, borderline obsessed with) a board game called Pretty Pretty Princess. Now you know those things with catchy titles or taglines but the experience never quite lives up to the hype?
This was NOTHING like that.
Imagine the most fun you’ve ever had. And then double it. And you’ve got Pretty Pretty Princess.
I can’t say I have a strong recollection of what you actually had to DO in the game but the important part is that as you moved around the board, you were rewarded with pieces of jewelery. The objective being, of course, to complete a matching set of clip-on earrings, rings, bracelets, anklets and necklaces in the colour of your choice (mine being pink. Obviously).
The first player to collect all of these sparkly pretty things was named the winner and crowned the Pretty Pretty Princess – there was a plastic silver tiara resplendent in multicoloured diamantes and everything.
And my dad – my super blokey, football watching, cricket playing, one-of-the-boys, work obsessed dad – he used to win ALL the time. (He was sneaky though, tried to collate the jewelry in a little pile in front of him instead of actually wearing it. But don’t worry – we were 7 and 3 – we didn’t let him get away with that kind of crap. He wore the jewels. Earrings and all.)
So when the team at Mamamia came across this beautiful video of typically ‘masculine’ fathers singing the lyrics of ‘Part of My World’ from The Little Mermaid – I got a tad emotional.
Why? Because that’s my dad.
Jamila and her dad.
A man who would probably have loved to have had a son. A man who grew up mucking around with his big brothers and the boys next door. A man who spent his teenage years playing cricket with the boys. And his uni days drinking at the bar and playing the pinball machines with his mates.
A man who was willing to do absolutely anything to make his very stereotypically feminine daughters, happy.
So I’m sharing this video with you today and asking you to share it with your community to say cheers. To say cheers to all the fathers of daughters.
For the hours they spent up late at night, singing us to sleep. For the painful process of teaching us to ride our bikes. For being there when the first boy broke our hearts. For shopping the tampon aisle for us while we were still too embarrassed. For getting us through our year 12 exams. And for every piece of advice in between and the support that continues for your whole life.
Thanks dad. For being part of my world.
Comments
32 Comments so far
This made me all teary!! Love this article and LOVE my gorgeous dad – also surrounded by daughters!
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My Dad died in September. He was a joyful fun loving dad who used to sing nursery rhymes and silly songs (My Boomerang won’t come back anyone?) to distract us while we were doing things we didn’t want to (bath time, doing the dishes). He would stroke our hair until we went to sleep. I had the privilege of stroking his hair as he slipped away from this world. Such a great Dad, I am so blessed to have had him
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Little girls are born with super powers. They can magically transform the roughest and toughest of Dads into great big marshmallows.
Here’s what my husband built for our two girls.
http://mum-abulous.com/2012/07/02/dadabulous-diy/
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WOW!!!!! They are amazing. Your husband is very, very talented. He should make a few more and sell them, I have no doubt there would be many buyers interested in treating their little girls with these masterpieces. Little girl’s dream beds right there!
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Am I the only one who experiences a lot of issues with Mamamia articles??
They tend to freeze my internet explorer all the time! Very annoying!
I always have to restart it whenever I load anything up!
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Love the posts you write about your Dad Jamila. My Dad and I are close and reading your posts always makes me smile and think of my Dad
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I was just thinking about how great my dad was when I was a kid recently. He worked such long hours to support me and my mum, but would piggyback me to bed every night without fail, read me a story and kiss me on the forehead before I fell asleep. He only got Sunday’s off and we would always spend them together – at the park or the hardware store (which I surprisingly enjoyed) or just playing games at home. My fondest memories are waking up early on a Sunday, climbing into bed with him and my mum and sleeping in together,
He’s still great now – though we don’t agree on many things (especially politics/world issues), he would do anything for us and continues to give me a hand with whatever I need. Love him to death. I can only hope my future husband has the same relationship with my future kids!
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My dad was a pretty crappy dad. He felt if he earnt the money to put food on our table and a roof over our head then that was his job done. He was a father who I saw everyday who was completely absent in my life. Now I hardly see him.
When I see videos like this or read comments from fathers who adore thier children, it reminds me of what I missed and always makes me wonder about what might have been and how different I might have been.
But then when I watch my husband with my son and my daughter, it fills my heart to the brim with love. I married a wonderful man who is just a fabulous father to our kids. Everything my dad wasn’t.
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Awww, you and your dad. So cute!
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It’s only now seeing my hubby interact with our daughters that my Dad has realised what he missed out on by being at the pub every afternoon after work while I was growing up. I think he has a few regrets! On a side note: I could feel the feminists collectively shudder at the name of your favourite game….lucky you turned out OK after playing such a pink game!!
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The feminist? What do you think feminism is?
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Well to start with, women who object to gender stereotypes – like the game Pretty Pretty Princess encourages! Why, what do you think they are?
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I just love the ending to that clip!! Sing it again Daddy!!
Love it
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Dad used to read ‘Peter Rabbit’, and embellish it by having Peter die of myxamatosis. I guess it was because he was a farmer and saw rabbits as feral pests.
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COMMENT. OF. THE. YEAR.
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LOL!
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My dad was a farmer too, and used to sing,
“Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With thistles and prickles and dirty great cypress trees!”
And also,
“Little miss Muffett sat on a tuffet eating her curds and whey, along came a spider and sat down beside her… and she said, “Wrack off hairy legs!”"
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I had the pleasure of working with Jamilla’s dad in a previous career for me.
He is THE most wonderful man. And a bloody genius to boot. In fact I gave him the moniker ‘Guru’. But as impressive as his intellect was his gentle and joyful manner was even more so.
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I got a bit emotional. I’m a dad who literally sings this song (and most Disney, hi-5, bubble guppies and Dora songs) to my girls. It’s not something I’ve ever thought about. It’s not a conscious thing. It’s just that you’d do absolutely anything for your little princess(es).
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All females are biologically programmed to need this type of love and affection from their fathers- they fill such a different role to mothers and we should never downplay the importance of a fathers role in their daughter’s lives.
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Funny, I was just thinking about my dad.
Jamila, love the pic of you & your dad. He has a beautiful smile. Lots of love in that photo.
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My dad had 2 girls and a boy and used to put in great efforts (including girls stories and songs + letting us put pink crocodile clips in his hair on occasion). It was all those memorable things + things like him driving 200km to deliver me a TV (after my ex left with my old one during Uni exams) that I will never forget. I lost him to cancer when he was 48 and I was 23 and have missed him every day since – he sure fitted in some great fathering while he was here though…
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That made me teary. I always wanted a dad that loved me. Instead I got a father that I’ve never met, but I’ve got a name, my brother doesn’t even have that for his. We had stepfathers, one from the depths of hell, one that hated my brother but tolerated me ,sort of, and the last one that I never knew about until mum told me she’d gotten married again. Fortunately, my kids have the best father, and that’s all that matters to me. And our daughter, born after 3 boys, is the absolute apple of her dads eye.
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My dad never wanted a boy or a girl, he wanted a healthy child with 10 fingers and 10 toes. He ended up with three daughters and on the day I was born I became his little ray of sunshine. (I’m totally not making this up)
My dad has played netball, skipped rope, played barbies, taught me fractions, and how to rollerblade, made mud pies, built two cubby houses, a bookshelf, dolls house and a desk. He also makes a mean banana sandwich and he knows exactly how I like my tea and toast. (that’s where his cooking skills end)
Another thing he did that means so much to me today as someone who has a lot of friends starting families is, when I was newly born I was not able to be breast fed all that well as my mother body did not produce milk. so for the first few weeks I cried all night and my dad passed me up and down the hallway until I fell asleep, and letting my mum sleep. He did this between 10pm and 3am for many many nights, as well as working from 6am each work day. Then I started on the bottle and was sleeping all night long. None of this happened for either of my sisters who were co-fed and bottle fed from birth.
I really respect, admire and love my dad very much.
I’m going to go outside now and tell him.
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Yep, this is my dad too. I love seeing dads with their kids esp. their daughters it brings back fond memories for me. I get tired of people putting down and underrating fatherhood, its so important in providing great male role models for them. My partner is great with our daughter and she loves him to bits.
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My husband very much wanted boys when he was younger, but 3/4 of our children have been girls and he’s actually better with them than our son (due I think to the trauma his own father put him through as a child and his subsequent poor relationship with him). He loves all his kids very much and will spend time individually with them, but thankfully hasn’t taken to singing Disney songs….his singing voice is terrible.
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Beautiful piece! My husband is exactly like that with our two girls..makes my heart melt
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wow, a positive story about men on here!! Thanks guys. Sometimes, as a male MM regular, a loving father of girls, and someone that tries to be the best I can be for them, I get to feeling that there is too much focus on the negatives a few bad men bring to the world, rather than the positives many many good men bring.
Indeed, I came to this site in the beginning because of my girls, because I wanted to learn more about raising girls etc. In the process of getting involved with this site, I started to think that this site was hell bent on publisising the evil a very few men do without adequate balance. It is nice to see this type of article on here sometimes.
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You sound like a wonderful father, well done.
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Great comment, WB. Same reason I’ve been a regular visitor here: with 3 daughters, I take any chance for an insight into issues important to girls & women.
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Oh my yes. My dad was a single dad in the seventies/eighties – and he did all those things, besides hold a full time job. My brother and I owe him so much – for he didn’t just raise us, he LOVED us:)
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Jamila, this is just so beautiful! After spending yesterday watching the Lion King with my dad, I think that today we should move on to the Little Mermaid. (And then, you know, I might start studying for uni exams… or something.)
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