I didn't "lecture" my three year old daughter on Princess Diana. I conversed with her about Princess Diana when the song "Goodbye English Rose" by Elton John played on the car radio and she asked me what it was about, because her middle name is Rose and her interest was piqued. Would you have done any differently with your own children?

What I do "lecture" my three year old daughter about is the subject of advertising and commercials, and wants vs. needs. I started doing this when she was two and it was clear she couldn't tell the difference between advertising and reality. She can tell the difference now.

Unless you take your kids completely off the grid, they are going to be exposed to advertising and "groomed" as a consumer no matter what you do (by the way, ick, did you pick the word "groomed" right from a pedophilia on purpose???)

As for the princesses, well there are lots of ways to merchandise the princess franchise and my daughter was given a book of disney princess stories as a gift. Her favorite story of this collection is an Ariel story in which Ariel is forbidden by her father to enter a seahorse race in which the competitors have traditionally been mermen. Ariel disquises herself as a merman and wins the race due to her and her seahorse's smaller stature (they are able to take shortcuts through small spaces). And her father changes the rule about who can compete in the race.

Anyhow. I am sure our daughters will turn out to be savvy and skeptical consumers either way.

after reading this, i have no interest in seeing chinatown. but the incest plot sounds like the story of john and mackenzie phillips. those crazy 70s.

Little girls are not going to be destroyed by princess stories.

The comments on this section are so overwrought.

To the helicopter parents who will protect their daughters from all things televised and otherwise mass marketed, Disney princess et al, will you similarly pee your pants when your sons gravitate toward fire trucks and bulldozers rather than say, the works of Ayn Rand or Nietsche?

Oh, gawd, what happens, if one of your sons gravitate toward that fabulous satiny princess costume they discovered in their older cousin's playroom? Is that okay? Okay for them but not for their sisters?

For the record, I told my three year old pink mermaid princess the saddest story of a true princess, Diana.

The car accident part, not the bulimia and how she married Camilla's tampon part. Princess Diana's story was tragic, but for everything that was superficial and retrograde about her story, she still was a great humanitarian and beloved for good reason.

My daughter's made-up stories sometimes involve princesses and mermaids, but more often they involve spiders and medical mysteries and a made-up world that exists on Pluto, where just about anything is possible in theory.

I don't recall Walt Disney's particular teachings on parallel universes and alternate realties, do you?

You can't predict the future, can you? All you can do is keep with the therapy and behavioral modification and learn to recognize your triggers so you can instead count to ten or walk away and take a breather when emotions get too hot.

You need to tell her the truth. You need to risk her leaving you over it.

If she stays, realize that you may think less of her for staying. If she isn't immediately horrified, you will wonder if she has any self-respect and you might be tempted to test her limits.

Or if she is horrified and pulls away and you are able to convince her to stay anyhow, either consciously or subconsciously you may still lose a little respect for her. on some level you may see her as too easy to manipulate or a loser for staying with a potential loose canon/abuser like yourself.

You will have to work to overcome that, and continue to learn to control youself one day at a time. You will have to learn to like yourself better so that if she does choose to remain with you, you will view your relationship with her in more positive terms-- and see her staying as the second chance gift you may or may not deserve, but one which you will cherish and not jeopardize.

By the way, your ex isn't being malicious by threatening to tell your new girlfriend about your violent past. Even if the tone she used with you was snotty or aggressive-- realize that the past is what it is. She has information which could prevent the girlfriend from being hurt. She may not be as convinced as you are that you are totally and truly reformed.

Maliciousness or bitterness on her part would signify a continued attachment to you-- an inability to forgive or let go. Is that really the case? Or is she just trying to prevent a train wreck that she views as inevitable?

If you are really seeking forgiveness from your ex, come clean with the new girl about your past. It is the most complicated path for you but I think it is necessary if you are truly going to reform your behavior toward women.

Good luck. I really believe that you can and will find a way to let go of the old ways of being and be a better man.