MARK MY WORD: DAUGHTER VIEWS WARRIOR PRINCESS AS CAREER MOVE

When it comes to role models for 3-year-olds, there's nothing quite like Xena, the warrior princess of television fame.

Our daughter, Bailey, says she wants to grow up and be just like Xena.

Maybe it's the leather battle suit or the way Xena dispenses swift justice with her sword that intrigues our impressionable daughter.

Whatever the reason, she's glued to the screen every evening when the campy syndicated show comes on.

We don't have any swords in our home, but that hasn't stopped Bailey from practicing for her future career.

The other day she picked up a green balloon and began pummeling imaginary bad guys with it.

Even our oldest daughter, 7-year-old Becca, loves to watch the show with its strange mix of acrobatic mythology.

There's no concealed weapons here. From crossbow to sword, everything is out in the open.

Xena even carries around a metal ring, which she can throw at her enemies with deadly accuracy.

All in all, Bailey sees a princess warrior as a good career move. Best of all, it's a career that's oblivious to a bad hair day.

Of course, it won't be easy for Bailey to get a job as a princess warrior. It's tough to find that perfect world where the bad guys can be destroyed over the dinner hour.

Besides, most universities prefer business schools to princess-warrior academies.

Still, all in all, Xena is a far better role model than some of the female characters that grace television land.

She has principles and she sticks by them. Of course, all of those principles seem to be stuck on the point of a sword.

But then what can you expect in a world populated by strange gods, giants and centaurs. It would be enough to make most people go into hiding or at least call 911 on a regular basis.

Xena doesn't seem to be a picky eater. Our children, on the other hand, are far more choosy when it comes to food.

Becca, in particular, would prefer to skip meals entirely rather than eat something like pizza. Chicken fingers, popcorn shrimp and chocolate milk are her favorite fare.

None of our children would like the food featured in a new children's book called "It's Disgusting and We Ate It."

The book was written by St. Louisan James Solheim. No doubt, he was forced to eat turnips and other yucky food when he was young.

According to the book: New Guinea's giant spiders taste like peanut butter, rat meat tastes like pork and the Chinese eat earthworm soup, barbecued elephant trunks and camel hump stew.

The English royalty used to eat violets, the author says.

Solheim, who clearly must have stirred his ice cream into soup when he was a child, tried to make violet candy.

He ended up with nothing but a horrible mush, which probably couldn't even pass for baby food.

The author says fried robins on toast were a delicacy in Colonial America. Still, it's doubtful kids today would be chirping about such a treat.

Tadpole soup also seems a little tacky. Dry-roasted crickets wouldn't interest our family. Likewise, we wouldn't take a crack at crunchy seaweed snacks.

Sometimes it is better to order out even if you're a warrior princess.

~Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.