“The winning family of four will join the fun in-person, receive a $250 shopping spree, and have the distinction of their child taking the stage to turn the key to imagination and officially unlock the all-new Disney Store in Times Square.” This is an excerpt form the information of a Disney contest in 2010. Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it?

Four seems to the “magic” number. Society recognizes it everywhere; families of four can entire these contests. The family meal brand Hamburger Helper is promoted with a hand that has four fingers. America recognizes the Fourth of July every year. The Fantastic Four are ideal super heros and role models. At one point or another most families have played the classic Connect Four game. A four-leafed clover is considered a rare and lucky find. All of these are probably not recognized because they involve the number four, in fact, most were unplanned. But that’s just the reason why it makes four more prominent.

Somewhere between Captain Fantastic and shamrocks something was interpreted unintentionally. Four literally became “fantastic.” Families of twelve or two were lost in the fantasy. They aren’t eligible for dream vacations or contests, especially the ones from companies like Disney. Disney may be “letting the memories being” but they are also helping to bring dreams down.

This argument isn’t being put forth to upset anyone, or to gain some “dream vacation.” This argument is to simply open eyes to a not-so-obvious topic. Personally, I came from a family of four, until my younger sister ironically was born four years later. So, because I am now in a family of five, I can’t, my sister can’t, and my brother can’t ever expect to enter contests offered by Disney. We can’t have our dreams come true because of a number? Ouch.

I’m old enough to say that I don’t have a desire to visit Disney or a Disney store or wherever it is that Disney offers to bring families anymore. I’m just trying to say that families of all sizes should be allowed to enter these contests. I was in a family of four, and now I’m not. That doesn’t mean I dream differently. Anyone came dream, so why can’t any family of any size enter? I don’t care if four is the typical or average size of a family in America, or in the world for that matter. It just doesn’t seem right for size to be the deciding factor for these kinds of trips. The cost of a few extra plane tickets is pocket change to a large corporation like Disney. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a family of four, but Disney fails to recognize that there’s nothing wrong with being in a unique family of a different size. With such prominence and power in the world, Disney shouldn’t be segregating different kinds of families apart, but rather bringing all different kinds of families together.