Warrior Princess

Long ago, I remember arguing with a male colleague when I declared that I wanted a daughter-and a fighter! Gods were listening in on the sly that day, winked at each other, and made my wish come true!

I remember watching the little ones grow up-my son, quiet, engrossed, my daughter - rebellious, a fighter. One day, my son was bullied by an older kid into giving up his favorite toy-I resisted interfering, knowing that he had to learn to fight his own battles. However, my little, chubby two year old ran to the rescue of her older brother, grabbing the much bigger boy by his shirt and lisping "give it back..."; the older child tried to shake her off, run away, all to no avail..she got dragged around, still hanging on to his shirt, till he finally gave up the toy and escaped.

Recently, my daughter has entered her teens...and I have started thinking of her as my warrior princess. Not that anyone would suspect so...she looks young, sweet, innocent, her hair in two pigtails, teeth in braces, her beautiful eyes behind nerdish glasses. Yet, this veneer hides a determined will, a resolve strong, a single mindedness of purpose and focus that has both my surprise and a hidden, deep admiration.

I am an observer now to a transformation that she has determined for herself-from the privileged, protected, non-formal education and environment that we had chosen for her, she has chosen to break away and be a part of what a friend recently called warehouse schooling for the masses...large classes, tons of books, heavy load of homework-little time for either creativity, or play! My husband and I watch her with concern-did we do wrong by her, before? are we watching her make a big mistake now? Yet...what must be, will be...or so we say to comfort ourselves. She is mostly amused and sometimes aghast at this assembly line approach to education, at the rascally behavior of her class mates-coming back home with umpteen stories to tell. It is her approach to her work that reveals her warrior self - she takes her new academic load as a challenge, a battle .We watch our young princess surrounded by her army of books, pressured and yet confident-she shall not surrender!