Lisa Bloom is right on target with her recent article How to Talk to Little Girls. Her story of a little girl in a pink ruffled dress being presented to the guests is so reminiscent of my own experience, but the following genuine conversation was not and I wish it had been.

I so wanted to be a princess or maybe a fairy with a magic wand or a witch like Glinda the good. I loved pink and flowing dresses and sparkles and rainbows. I did not understand why people didn’t seem to take me seriously.

Why can’t we be beautiful and smart? Why can’t we be fanciful and imaginative and serious? The boys could be rough and tumble and still have real grown-up conversation sometimes. Cooking, baking and cleaning were treated as serious stuff.

On a very rare occasion, I remember a conversation or two like Lisa Bloom relates. I hope we can make those more the norm for the next generation without dampening the fragile imagination of a child who still believes in magic.