From Tami: Cinderella

I’m feeling nostalgic today, which is why it’s too bad that I only have teenage and pre-teen boys left in the house. Because I could really use some girls or young kids around, to join me on the couch and watch Cinderella.

Not the Disney version though—the 1965 movie starring Lesley Ann Warren. Have any of you ever seen it? It’s a masterpiece, in my humble opinion.

That movie practically raised me. I used to sing the songs, dance the dances, and dream about the ball. As a parent, I used the songs as lullabies for my babies.

And so, when my girls started watching princess movies, I made sure that my favorite childhood movie got added to the mix. My eldest used to want to play Cinderella—reserving the starring role for herself, of course—and cast me in the role of Good Stepmother and her sister in the role of Good Stepsister, since she hated the idea of us having to be evil or wicked.

I loved sharing this piece of my childhood with my own children. It was a joy to see the magic of the movie reflected back in my girls’ little faces.

Now that my girls are all grown and out of the house, and my boys would much rather watch Star Wars or the Fast and Furious movies, I have shown them other movies that I have loved throughout my life—movies like The Godfather, Big, Rain Man, and Dances With Wolves. I try to find classics that are age-appropriate for whoever is watching, and that the kids will enjoy.

Still, today I am in a Cinderella mood, and I have no one to share my nostalgia with. So I thought of you, Super-Moms.

What’s something special from your childhood that you love to share with your kids? That thing that connects your childhood and theirs?

Whatever it is, I’m sure your kids love knowing that they are experiencing something that has been special to you for your whole life.

Sometimes it’s nice to show our kids that we were girls before we were Super-Moms, impossible as that may seem.

(Impossible? Like a plain yellow pumpkin that becomes a golden carriage? Impossible!)

Tami