Jessica Alba is trying to teach her daughter that being a princess isn't just about a prince "coming in and sweeping you off your feet".

The 31-year-old actress and husband Cash Warren have daughters Honor, three, and 11-month-old Haven together.

Honor enjoys fairy tales, but Jessica is keen for her children not to grow up with a false illusion of what life is about.

"She loves anything with a princess or a mermaid or a fairy. She has no discretion. We could just go on and on with that. And the princess books we have are all about princesses also helping people who are in need, who don't have the things we have. I try to give her a spin on it so it's not just about a prince coming in and sweeping you off your feet and that's the best day of your life," she told Entertainment Weekly.

"A princess' job is to help with the children who don't have clothes. Or to help clean up the planet. That's something I talk to her about. Real princesses give back to the earth and they're kind to animals and I try to tell her that's what being a princess is."

Jessica says popular culture is starting to make an impact on Honor's life. The actress has joked about her daughter confusing Nicki Minaj with an animated voice.

"I guess the most recent issue was that she saw Ice Age 4 the other day with her cousins and one of her cousins was like 'Nicki Minaj!' So all Honor talked about all day was that Nicki Minaj is a voice," she laughed. "She was like, 'Even though they're animals, they're really people who are inside of the animals helping them talk. And Nicki Minaj.' I was like, 'You don't even know who Nicki Minaj is!' She was messing up the name.

"But she got really fascinated with it because her older cousin told her all about the fact that Nicki Minaj was the voice."