One of the most empowering books I enjoyed in my childhood was Little Women. Two years ago, I found a children’s adaptation of the book in the Target dollar aisle, and I was happy to see my daughter delve into the book. Its popularity resurfaced this year because in fourth grade, being sophisticated means reading large novels. Today, both of my daughters and I were excited to see the visually impressive movie in theaters, where we could marvel over every detail of the Civil War era-gowns, the beautiful mansions and the galavanting at the beach. Although the plot skipped back and forth in time and could be difficult for young children to follow at times, it was incredibly inspiring. Featured today on Theresa’s Reviews, I’m sharing three lessons that girls can learn from watching Little Women.

Life is too Short to Fight with Sisters

Fights are inevitable when you love another. The four sisters in Little Women Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy fight often. They fight when one promises to do the other’s hair and ruins it. They fight over boys, over getting special vacations to Europe, and over getting even with one another by ruining treasured possessions.

Some fights are harder to forgive. Some can create lasting resentment that is incredibly hard to get past, but life is short. Loving each other matters. Sisters should always give each other room to make mistakes, and never stop caring.

Pursue Your Dreams and Follow Your Heart

Pursuing a dream looks different for everyone. It might look like solitude for some. Some might prefer finding happiness in fame and recognition, or by finding love. Respecting everyone’s dream matters.

Today, many girls know the significance of pursuing their dreams and following their heart. They might not need the reminder not to marry for money or the permission to follow a dream of writing or doing art.

My daughters’ generation already feels empowered by knowing this, but they don’t fully understand the complexity involved in this idea. Watching Little Women shows them that in the past, these choices were very hard to make.

To captivate even young viewers, the March sisters are as beautiful as Disney princesses with Jo as a headstrong Elsa or Aurora, Meg as the romantic Belle, and Amy as an artistic Rapunzel. With lovely gowns and beautiful wavy hair do’s, they are as lovely as any fairy tale heroine.

Modern girls want to see characters on the big screen who pursue dreams that they can relate to because even though real life isn’t a fairy tale, it can still be fantastic. Little Women has characters with relatable problems, which makes the story resonate with young viewers.

For instance, take the idea of marrying for love. In Frozen, princess Anna married the poor, kind ice carver Kristoff because she loved him, and she solved all of his problems by inheriting the kingdom and becoming the queen. It’s a beautiful idea, but not particularly inspiring for girls who have no chance of becoming queen.

In Little Women, marrying someone who is poor because he is kind and because you love him doesn’t mean that the problems are solved by the end with an inheritance from a wealthy relative. Happiness takes on a new meaning, which is the freedom to choose to make compromises for the ones you love.

Showing a relatable conflict empowers girls to face difficult decisions, while knowing that compromise or hardships are worth it to truly follow your heart.

Show Generosity

In an era of Insta-fame, pursuing dreams is quite popular, but one message that is often forgotten is the value of generosity. Watching a delicious Christmas breakfast being donated to a poor family has an impact, as does the visually stunning breakfast the March girls are rewarded with afterwards from a wealthy neighbor. Acts of kindness can bring big rewards to those with caring hearts.

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Photo credit for all pictures: Sony Pictures