I thought Mazzy saw Frozen on the late side. I thought that as her fondness for the characters grew, the other kids would have moved on. But, it seems like there is no end to how obsessed a child can be with the newest Disney movie. No one is getting sick of the soundtrack and apparently, a kid can watch the same movie 4000X without getting bored.
Mazzy is four years old and this is her first experience with a Disney princess movie. She doesn't just like Frozen. She has fallen in love with Frozen. And it's not just about her. Frozen has escalated into a life-encompassing entity that consumes not just her, but everybody she knows.
Here are the Seven Stages of a Frozen Obsession (based on my observation only):
STAGE ONE
Your child sees the Frozen poster around town. Maybe catches the trailer on TV. Calls Frozen the movie with "the funny snowman". Asks to see it.
STAGE TWO
You take your child to see the movie. She learns it is not a movie about a funny snowman at all. It is a movie about life, love, betrayal, death, magic, royalty, fashion, troll people and most importantly, the two most beautiful sisters who ever lived.
STAGE THREE
While playing on her iPad, she stumbles on Frozen videos on YouTube. She starts to watch them repeatedly. One day you come home from work and she suddenly knows all the words to "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" and "Let It Go". You film her singing because it's amazing. This is the first time she's memorized the words to a song that doesn't involve farm animals. In the morning, she asks you to make a braid down the back of her hair like Elsa. When you're finished, she gets mad and says, "NO! IT'S SUPPOSED TO COME DOWN OVER ONE SHOULDER!" You pull the braid over to one side but "IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" You end up starting over and making a diagonal braid from top left to bottom right. She is satisfied. THANK GOD.
STAGE FOUR
She claims Anna is now her favorite Frozen sister. She asks you to call her "Anna" instead of her real name and gets mad every time you forget. In the morning, she asks you to make two braids on either side of her head "like Anna". She repeats "like Anna" ten times until you say, "I KNOW! LIKE ANNA!!!" On the plus side, she sits still while you do her hair for the first time in her entire life. She comes home from preschool talking about a fight she had with her friend over who was Anna and who was Elsa. "I'M ANNA, RIGHT MOM???" "Yes, dear." She now has the words to "Life is an Open Door" and "Summertime" memorized. You take her to a toy store and tell her she can buy one thing. She selects the Anna and Elsa dolls from when they were kids. She plays with them incessantly, making you take off and put back on their outfits 1000X a day. In the free time you have left, you spend it searching for Elsa's crown. Why couldn't they have nailed to her head???
STAGE FIVE
You enter a book store and before you even blink, she spots the Frozen books in the kid's section and runs to them at full speed. She wants to buy all the books and you try to explain that it is the same story told at different reading levels. She doesn't care. You end up sitting with her on the floor of the store reading each one in all it's easy-reading abbreviated idiocy. "Elsa and Anna are sisters. Elsa has ice powers. Anna meets Hans. Elsa runs away…" Your daughter is captivated by every word. She asks to read them again. After begging for the adult Elsa and Anna dolls, you end up buying her a set of Frozen miniature figurines. She proceeds to set up the entire city of Arendelle in your living room. Her Sesame Street, Hello Kitty and Olivia figurines all become plebians in Elsa and Anna's kingdom. She arranges them with more care than you have ever put into anything. Your younger daughter runs into the room and grabs Elsa from the middle of the scene. There is screaming and crying. Your oldest tries to offer Hans as a consolation prize. Your youngest isn't stupid. There is more screaming and crying. You must take away all the Frozen figurines until after the little one goes to bed. Your daughter reacts like you just abandoned her in a parking lot and she must eat garbage for survival.
STAGE SIX
Elsa's doll hair now looks like a rat's nest that might have insects living inside. Your daughter insists you take the hair out of the braid and redo it. Against your better judgement, you comply. You then spend the next five hours brushing the knots out of Elsa's hair while your daughter cries that Elsa is bald. You curse Disney for thinking no child would remove the braid to reveal Elsa doesn't actually have a full head of hair. After six attempts, you finally braid the hair back to your daughter's satisfaction with all bald spots covered. You silently thank Disney for making Anna's hair molded plastic. Your daughter now has the words to "For the First Time in Forever" memorized. Only it's not just the regular "First Time in Forever", it's also the reprise that happens in the ice castle which is half spoken dialogue and she says every word of every character verbatim like it's just part of the song. She makes you tell Frozen-themed stories every night before bed. When you try to get creative and veer off the storyline, she tells you are doing it wrong and makes you stick to the script. You go to a birthday party with Frozen themed cups and all the parents freak out like they are in the presence of rare never-before-seen diamonds. The cake has a picture of Anna and Elsa on it. There is a full-out brawl between the girls over who gets to eat Elsa's head.
STAGE SEVEN
Your husband brings home an illegal copy of Frozen he got from someone at his office. Your daughter reacts like you bought her a pony. She ceases to watch anything but Frozen. She starts taking her Frozen figurines everywhere. To bed, to play dates, to school. She refuses to let them go even when it means she will not be allowed in the bouncy castle at her friend's birthday party. She asks for her hair to be braided to the side and then into a bun like Elsa's on coronation day. You listen to nothing but Frozen Radio in the car. Not only does she know the words to every song including "Fixer Upper", your 16 month old sings and dances to every song as well. When "Let It Go" comes on, your baby prances around with her arms held out like she is Elsa in her ice castle.
Your older daughter gives out character names to everyone she encounters. She has decided that she will be both Anna and Elsa at all times. Everyone else is allowed to be Christoph, Sven or Olaf. At a lunch meeting in Times Square, you are told the Disney Store has just restocked their Anna and Elsa costumes after being sold out for weeks. You walk in because you are right there, having no intention of buying anything. You see Anna's costume but no Elsa. You assume they are sold out. You decide to get Anna's costume even though it is the ugliest princess costume ever. Your daughter will love it. Before paying, the cashier informs you they have Elsa costumes in the back. They keep them there because parents were fighting over them. She asks if you want one. You ask to see it. IT IS BEAUTIFUL. You find yourself grinning ear-to-ear and shouting, "I'LL TAKE IT!" You walk out of the Disney Store, humming "Love is an Open Door" with over $100 of Frozen costumes in a bag without any special occasion on which to give them. You aren't even with your daughter and she didn't even ask for them.
You have bought into it. Your daughter's obsession has become your own.
You are Frozen. Frozen is you. Don't fight it.
LET IT GO.
Nice french braiding! The early 90s would be proud. Has Mazzy seen ‘Tangled’? I think she would love that too.
We went through that with Cars. So.many.Cars.
This is the story of my life since I took my daughter to see it in theatres back on January 1st. Minus the younger daughter bc she is an only child. Her birthday was in March and we did a full Frozen theme right down to jello cubes that were “Kristoff and Sven’s ice blocks” and bags of snowman parts in the goodie bags with a tag that said “Do you want to build a snowman?” ..and many other things that took me hours and hours and hours to make…lol we also have 5 copies of the movie right now for some reason…it just plays over and over and over!!!
I still can’t spot the frozen books in that picture…
We did the Cars obsession too. “No! Not regular Lightning! Radiator Springs Lightning after Ramone painted him!” and “ooooh Dinoco Lightning – he’s blue!”. When we found ourselves almost considering getting Chick Hicks for extortionate money on ebay I realised we were suckered in too far…. Chick stayed on ebay. And then one day the cars (bar three) were all donated to a toddler group “for other boys to enjoy”! Um, who are you and where is my son?! Our girlie is a year younger than Mazzy so guess we have princesses to come…
Um, it’s LOVE is an open door. Is stage 8 when the mother corrects other mothers regarding the lyrics?
The songwriter of Let it Go is Filipino, hence, every little Filipina girl and Filipina mom i met, knows the lyrics of Let it Go. Hahaha! Trust me, my nieces has bombarded my ears with all Frozen songs, plus my 16 year old daughter insists on having her hair frenched braid….lol….
Haha! Yes, this is our life too. Your braiding is impressive.
HA. You read my mind!
I just threw my 8 year old a Frozen birthday party.
So I’d add in a stage where you stalk every online party store for weeks in hopes of finding Frozen party supplies.
And then you pay for shipping from four different websites because they all restocked random supplies – cups from one place, plates and napkins from another, etc.
And then you stay up late at night, scouring Pinterest for the best decorating ideas.
And then you spend two weeks making snowflakes and white tissue puff balls and a silver-spray painted Frozen tree.
And then you throw the best Frozen party ever, according to your daughter, and decide the insanity was all worth it in the end.
I can’t get over the fact that you found a Disney Store Elsa dress, on accident! Been trying to get one for my youngest’s fourth birthday for over three months (without buying one from an eBay poacher). You should have bought a lottery ticket that day, too!
I can’t stop laughing about the fight over who gets to eat Elsa’s head! Also, haven’t even heard the soundtrack for two days and I’m STILL singing the songs.
Welcome to my world with a daughter obsessed with Frozen plus a son obsessed with Minecraft at the same time. ๐ Luckily, there is only one soundtrack, but the books, the toys, the costumes, the birthday party frenzy… It’s not easy and it’s not cheap either.
My two are both boys, so we’re going through a bit of a Wreck-it Ralph obsession. Still. Fortunately, there’s no merchandise in the stores, but I’ve heard a second movie is in the works. The oldest has seen Frozen, and seemed to really enjoy it, but he hasn’t really said anything about it since. I loved, it, and might buy the movie for myself. I’ve also seriously debated buying the soundtrack and reliving my Little Mermaid obsession, haha.
This is the truth. The Frozen gospel truth. And when you planning daughter’s 6th birthday party, she informs you that she WILL no longer accept pin the nose on olaf, as a party game – it can only be pin the crown on Elsa. Mercy!
Ack! Just fixed it. Don’t tell Mazzy. She would be MORTIFIED!
This is clearly Stage 12. Right after you buy Frozen bedding and construct an actual ice castle in your backyard. I look forward to reaching this stage in December for Mazzy’s birthday.
My daughter’s Nana is the best…Frozen book on CD. Now when she wants to hear the story again she can go quietly sit in her room and follow along. I highly recommend. ๐
The rest of it…I’m right there with you. My 5 year old has taken to playing the songs while I’m making dinner because she knows I have nothing else occupying my brain and will belt them out along with her.
I have a four-year-old who recently got obsessed with the Lego Movie… we came out of the theater singing “Everything is Awesome” all the time for daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaays on end. And then, it faded and went back from whence it came. Only to be replaced by Frozen. Now, I have Let It Go stuck in my head like the soundtrack from a creepy horror movie. We haven’t yet reached the merchandise freak outedness that Mazzy has – but I’m attributing that to the idea that the princesses just haven’t piqued his interest quite like Spiderman did. But my daughter is still very young… so I imagine this is going to be my life in another year or so. At least Frozen is more fun than Bubble Guppies on loop! I’m learning to Let It Go. See what I did there…
I have given into the Frozen. Now.
1. Does your store still have Elsa dresses?
2. Will you buy one, I will paypal the money for it, and pay for you to ship it to me? I need a 7-8. I think we both know this is no joke. Inbox me!
sarahughart at gmail dot com
<3
I soak all the dolls hair in hot water before giving them to my daughter. That way she can actually brush their hair. I’m talking specially about any w/ that horrific plastic-like hair. All except for the classic doll from the Disney store of Anna..only b/c I would never be able to get those damn braids back in her hair!!
Oh and how’s this for the Mom being roped in…my Daughter is obsessed w/ Tinkerbell not so much Frozen…but I of course bought the Anna dress from the Disney store and now am scouring eBAY to find the Elsa dress from the actual park (b/c it looks more authentic). Nevermind she’s not even asking for that dress….but apparently the 4-year old inside me NEEDS it.
We have experienced many of the same Frozen obsession stages. However, my children are BOYS. My 4 year old carries the soundtrack from in and out of the car with him just in case he wants to listen to it wherever he goes. My 2 year old stabbed a slice of apple with a fork for over an hour today exclaiming, “Cut ice! Frozen!” We know every word. Every beat to the songs. Every joke in the movie. I never thought I was missing out on anything by being the mother to boys but, when they memorized a Disney Princess movie it really made all of my dreams come true. Haha!
This part is hilarious, “My 2 year old stabbed a slice of apple with a fork for over an hour today exclaiming, “Cut ice! Frozen!”
You really haven’t reached rock bottom of a Frozen obsession until you name your new kittens Sven and Kristoff. Like we did. Sigh.
Great article.
What Stage is, if you actually had the REAL ELSA in your own apartment? How aware is she of that? All other girls in the country can buy all the merchandise they want, but Mazzy had the one and only Idina Menzel sitting on her living room!!!!!!! Next time she stops by, you can ask her to sing Let It go Live, Mazzy will pass out of excitement I bet!
I’m really obsessed with Frozen and I’m 31 years old, my son is 2 and he sings Let It go pretty darn cute, I think Disney got us all with this one ๐
When the F!&* did you come into my house and life and set up cameras? You nailed my life right now pretty perfectly down to the Barnes and Noble!
Honest Trailers on youtube. HILARIOUS version for Frozen.
Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb5IH57SorQ
PS: I LOVE Frozen. I’ve seen it more times than I have appendages to count on! I really hope you see this comment.
YES! YES! YES! We are in the same boat! My 4.5 year old goes between being Anna and Elsa in school and writes those names instead of hers on all her school projects! She dresses up with the dresses and hairstyles and sings all the songs every morning. And yes, I was up at 3 am ordering from Disney.com a few weeks ago because I heard a “tip” that they were restocking at midnight PST before the DVD release. Frozen, its like crack…Oh and my daughter also screams out of nowhere every time she sees a Frozen ad on a taxi zipping by. Its enough to give you a heart attack.
I love this! I have two boys, so Frozen isn’t really on their radar all that much. BUT…replace Frozen with Thomas the Tank Engine and you are talking about my life. My son sleeps in a Thomas bed, wearing Thomas pajamas, reads Thomas bedtime stories, on a Thomas pillow, holding Thomas trains, and all day long we watch Thomas movies on Netflix. He knows how to count to ten, but ONLY if you correlate it to the trains numbers! I’m planning his birthday party now, and it’s going to be Thomas to the nth power, of course.
On the plus side, there is NO Mommy threat so powerful as “If you don’t ______, you will lose all your trains for two hours!” Instant compliant child.
This is all just too much. I am a grandma to sisters, 4 years old and 18 months. I’m also that grandma that sews. Last week the 4 year old came to me and for the first time ever requested a specific sewing project. “Mema, would you make me a Elsa costume so I can play with the other girls at preschool?” At that moment I wanted to gouge out Walt Disney’s eyes if only he were still alive. It made my heart hurt. My response was, of coarse, I’d love to, but there might be an issue finding the snowflake printed organza for the cape. She smiled that smile that told me I must not fail. Well, after endless hours on the internet, and trips to no less than 4 fabric stores, I am ready to admit defeat. The dress itself, no problem, but that f**** cape. I almost resorted to seeing if the wedding tablecloth place would sell me one of their fancy overlays. This is all just nutty. My husband tells me not to blame Walt, that it’s the ‘new’ Disney that is creating all this madness. Anyway, this past weekend my daughter sent me a couple of pics of a very happy 4 year old. Her father had fashioned her a gown and cape out of two Anis and Adi swaddles that happen to be in that turquoise color. She was in heaven. Who cared if there was some extra exposed undies and an occasional bare chest. She was Elsa. I will continue my search, but in the meantime she’s happy. Take that Disney!!
Buying into the obsession – Laughing because it is true. Excpet right now it is Star Wars with my son!
WHAT ABOUT THE GLOVES?!!! My 3 & 4 year old will NOT take them off because it will FREEZE THE KINGDOM (the house)!!! They want to sleep with too big rubber gloves and scream THE ICE THE ICE!!! When I try to get them off. Too cute but kinda driving us crazy.
My two 3yo girls watched about 25 minutes of Frozen, declared it “lame” and asked for Star Wars. So proud.
You are Frozen. Frozen is you. Don’t fight it.
LET IT GO.
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA
Here I stand! And here I’ll stayyyyyyy!
The force is strong with them.
My daughter is 21 months old. On the way home from school today, she requested that we
sing “Happy Birthday” to Elsa. And then Sven… And then Olaf. We sang “Happy Birthday”
for a cartoon reindeer.
At the doctor’s last month one asked the lab nurse who was flu-swabbing to check her “meteblorbians” (metachlorians). Lucky the nurse was uber cool and caught exactly what she was asking for. ๐
Sooo true! I am Filipino, single and no kinds yet and I know the song’s lyrics, well all Frozen songs, by heart.
just laughed my ass off when I got to “your youngest is not stupid” ๐ I love this. we haven’t hit all the stages, but we’re well on our way ๐
I have a 6 year old and 2 year old, both girls. and we are currently living with the Frozen obsession as well. even the two year old sings the songs and can name all the characters!
Mine’s into Frozen and Adventure Time, she always wants to go to the mall every day just to get new stuff
I think Mazzy needs a reality check! OH WAIT that’s MOM who needs a reality check! Raising self centred narcissistic ALL ABOUT ME AND WHAT I WANT … sad sad sad reflection on what parents think LOVING their children means! Good luck to each of you … when the little Mazzy’s of the world don’t know what the word NO means – – your pockets will never be deep enough!
I am just cracking up over this – mostly because it’s so true. My 4 year old daughter even directs her playmates at school with what I call “the deleted scenes”. And, she knows every gesture and word in the movie – which we’ve seen around a billion times. And, if I ever get a word wrong…oh heaven help us.
I had three boys first and I didn’t inherit the being-able-to-do-hair gene from my mom, so the Anna/Elsa styles just kill me. But, she does allow me to do her hair – I just ask each morning, Anna or Elsa?
Thanks for this! A wonderful read.
My friend from Joy2Sew has come up with several beautiful patterns for Elsa and Anna. Gorgeous!!! If your looking for a dress go here: http://joy2sew.blogspot.com/2014/04/elsa-ice-and-coronation-dress-pdf.html
As a Grandma I understand the “Cars” and ‘Frozen”. What I don’t understand are the parents that spend $500 on a dress that their daughter wants! Have the parents lost their minds???? How about saying no or making the item yourself? Or having the child make it with your help? Too young of a child,then the word no will work. I have a 10 year old grandson and a 2 1/2 year old grand daughter. They both know the word no. My grandson built his first birdhouse 2 years ago and now has paying customers. He has been taught to earn money to buy things. He earns his money by good grades, chores, and building bird houses for people.
Did your parents not love you as a child? Why all the bitterness and vitriol?
What happens when an adult goes through these obsession stages? Not all of them, but definitely watching videos, singing the songs etc. I’d like to blame it on children, but I actually downloaded the soundtrack for myself.
Therapy, maybe?
Bahahahahahaha!!! OMG, I seriously just peed my pampers reading that article! I have one of those too in our house, i swear its an eternal winter in our house b/c the frozen dvd hasn’t stopped playing. Sometimes I wish dvd’s were like the old vhs tapes, you could actually wear those out after multiple playings
[…] sleeps with a plastic miniature Anna doll every night and my latest post on my blog is the ‘Seven Stages of a Frozen Obsession‘ and… Oh!!!! You should totally read it because you have a new baby!! It’s called […]
Not sure how far Short Hills NJ is for you, but this may blow the girls’ minds: Santa AND Frozen
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/DE45304.htm
Ew Harlow was a fat ugly baby when she was younger
Rude