Finding Parental Guidance and Inspiration in Disney’s New Cinderella

For the first time in a long time, we went to go see a movie the other day.  It was my wife's birthday, and she wanted to see the new live action Cinderella.  We knew the story line, and pretty much knew exactly what to expect.  However, I was surprised by what we took away from the movie.  If you're looking for a movie review, I'll tell you this.  It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either.  The kids loved it, and the story line followed the Disney cartoon almost exactly, except for a Prince and his father twist (that wasn't really necessary), and a different role for the Duke.   Other than that, it was really what you'd expect.

What I loved about the movie however, were two huge life lessons, that I think we can all learn from, and I'll use with my kids from here on out.

LESSON 1: "Be courageous, and always be kind."  
This is the one dying wish life lesson Cinderella's mother passed on to her, that became the motto Cinderella lived by. What great words of inspiration that we should all live by. Life is tough and cruel, that's true. But be courageous when facing life's challenges, and you can conquer anything. Plus we've all heard "killing them with kindness." Could you imagine if everyone was raised to just be a little nicer to each other? What a great, and simple, life lesson.

LESSON 2: "To be seen as we truly are, is the biggest risk we will ever take."  
This is the thought Cinderella delivers as the prince puts the slipper on her and realizes the love of his life is simply a peasant girl and not a Princess. As we know in the story, it doesn't matter to him, but it's one of the biggest things Cinderella was terrified about. As soon as my wife and I heard this, you could see the light bulb going off in both our heads. We're at that point in parenting where our 9 year old is starting to worry about others opinions, and we're trying to help her what others think doesn't matter. This quote might just be our new mantra, as we all know it's difficult to let others truly see us. Yet, it's one of the most important lessons we must all learn.

In trying to find the exact wording of these quotes, I came across this blog, which reveals there's a whole ton of other quotes just as inspiring.  There's also the long version of lesson #2 above.

Whether you ever see the movie or not, or even if you like the movie or not, as hope as a parent, you'll find as much guidance and inspiration in the above quotes as my wife and I have.  For that, I applaud you Disney.