We love a good movie night at home and are big fans of all the Disney princesses and heroines (especially the dresses!). 

(I’ve even made my own version from towels.)

We love the music and the songs. And as a mom, I love the side benefit of the lessons we all learn and the conversations that come up from watching these movies. It’s always great when something she loves can also have a learning experience attached. The latest viewing was Disney’s The Little Mermaid. While we were watching, she went and got her wooden dingle hoppers (forks) from her kitchen and she used them the way that Scuttle showed Ariel.

There have been so many unexpected benefits that have emerged from watching this movie:

1) The improvement in swimming: “Let’s practice swimming like Ariel.” It has worked like a charm in our friend’s pool. She also likes how her curly hair gets longer when she is in the water (“Like Rapunzel!”. But that is for a different post).

2) The ‘Quiet Game’: “What happened? Oh! Ursula took your voice?” She made that game up herself. But I am a BIG fan of the quiet game.

3) Signing a Contract: On a serious note, we have had conversations about people asking you to do stuff that you know is not ‘safe’. I asked her, “What is it about Ursula’s ‘deal’ that makes you uncomfortable?”  At age 4, she really has a handle on the pros and cons in some ways that are beyond her years.

4) Singing: We sing and sing and sing along with The Little Mermaid.

Giveaway!

This modern Disney film is coming out for the first time on a Blu-ray Combo Pack and HD Digital on October 1st. You can visit the Disney page to pre-order it and for lots of fun Little Mermaid activities. OR you can enter to win a copy from us! Make your own family movie night with a $50 Visa gift card and a copy of the Little Mermaid Diamond Edition Blu-ray Combo Pack. To be entered for a chance to win, just leave a comment on this post and telling us: “How do you encourage your children to follow their dreams?”

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “”#SweepstakesEntry””; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post”
c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 9/3/13 – 10/15/13.
Be sure to visit the Disney’s Little Mermaid page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!