Writing Love Letters to our Rebel Princesses

👩‍🔬 Rebel Princess Stories

One day, when my daughter was 4 years old, I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up. She shouted eagerly "Scientist Princess!" I was astounded at her answer. I had been going out of my way to show her interesting shows about female scientists including Ada Twist the Scientist and Emily's Science Lab. The princess narrative that still dominates media for little girls captured her anyway. Yet, she put her own spin to it that I never would have thought of! On that day, my daughter inspired the idea for the Rebel Princess Community.

As adults, most of us have been conditioned to think in defined silos. The power of children's imaginations allow them to think in hyphens. They don't think of limiting what they could be. They naturally think that everything is possible. They don’t have to choose between sparkle and substance, between softness and strength, between beauty and brains. They can be both, if they want to be. So I believe it's our job as parents to nurture it and help them bring these dreams to life.

Today, I am starting this newsletter and envisioning it as a years-long love letter. I spend a lot of time thinking about and carefully curating the content that she consumes. I hope to instill the belief in my daughter that she is not just a supporting character, or worse, a victim to be saved. Rather, she is the protagonist in her own story. I am now sharing my research with the world and hoping that there are kindred families out there. My commitment is to deliver human-curated and IRL-consumed content straight to your inboxes. Let us raise our Rebel Princesses together and collectively write the longest and deepest love letter in history!

📺 Top 5 Show Recommendations for Rebel Princesses

For 4-8 years old:

• Ada Twist, The Scientist (Netflix) - An eight-year-old scientist with boundless curiosity uses the scientific method to explore and solve everyday problems with her friends.

• Mira, The Royal Detective (Disney) - A brave and resourceful eight-year old is appointed as the royal detective in the Indian-inspired kingdom of Jalpur, solving mysteries with her friends.

• Super Sema (Youtube) - Africa's STEM superhero, who "technovates" epic inventions such as drones that plant trees, 3D pizza printers, machines styling hair to match personalities and more.

• Ridley Jones (Netflix) - A curious and courageous eight-year old protects the museum's secrets, where exhibits come to life at night, embarking on adventures with her diverse team of animals.

• Doc McStuffins (Disney) - A six-year-old who runs a clinic for toys out of her playhouse can talk to and heal toys and stuffed animals.

For 9-12 years old:

• The InBestigators (Netflix) - A group of clever fifth-graders forms a detective agency to solve school and neighborhood mysteries, sharing their adventures through a vlog.

• Dino Dana (Apple TV) - A curious and imaginative nine-year old who uses scientific inquiry and problem-solving on "dino experiments" to learn about dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures.

• Just Add Magic (Prime Video) - Three friends discover a magical cookbook that leads them on adventures to solve mysteries and protect their town.

• Emily’ Science Lab (Youtube) - Science communicator Emily Calandrelli leads kids through lively experiments and entertaining activities, making STEM fun and accessible. ​

• Izzy’s Koala World (Netflix) - Eleven-year-old Izzy Bee and her family rescue and rehabilitate koalas on Australia's Magnetic Island, preparing them for return to the wild.

 🏠 Household Rules and (Sanity?) Tactics

As an expat based in Berlin, I need to fly regularly to visit my relatives back home in the Philippines. As you can imagine, watching shows is not something we have managed to escape for our daughter. She has had regular screen time since she was 3 years old.

Every family will have their own approach to screen time. I whole-heartedly admire families that can avoid screens altogether until their kids are in school. Some manage to limit it to just the weekends. Our household rule is 30 minutes at the end of a regular day or whatever buys us sanity whenever we’re traveling. 🤪

We have 3 simple rules:

Decide on a show together: Before our daughter watches, we choose the show together. We taught her early on that shows are made for specific ages. She now knows to ask us about age appropriateness of each new show that she is interested to watch. The ultimate no-go for us is to let our daughter mindlessly scroll through shows unsupervised, especially on ad-supported platforms like Youtube Kids! 🙅‍♀️

Navigate to My List: Whenever we can, we have tried to skip the home page of streaming providers. We have curated lists on most apps because the recommended shows on most providers tend to highlight all the tired and gender biased content that we all grew up on!

Download shows: This requires regular preparation time. But we find it even better when we manage to pre-load her tablet with downloaded shows. If it’s on airplane mode, it allows us to just hand her the tablet and let her choose on her own. ✈️

⏭️ Other Rebel Princess Certified Content

Especially for families with zero screen time, we recommend the following:

• Top 5 Book Recos: From a board book series redefining what it means to be a princess to a chapter book series about a Japanese-American 8-year old navigating family traditions, friendships and personal growth

• Top 5 Board Game Recos: From an Uno-like game with math and totally suitable theme of Queens saving Kings to a resource management game played in Marie Curie’s life timeline and helping her win her double Nobel Prize!

Dedicated to our Trailblazers in Tiaras,

The Team from Rebel Princess Community