8 Reasons Why Fairy Tales Are Essential to Childhood
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Not everyone believes in the importance of fairy tales for kids. In fact, 25% of parents recently surveyed said they wouldn’t read fairy tales to a child under five years old because they didn’t teach a good lesson or were too scary. Many of you shared your opinion about this on Facebook and please comment here, too – I want to hear your thoughts!
The fairy tale survey, quoted in this UK’s Telegraph article shared the top ten fairy tales parents don’t read and why. Reading through the list of reasons, I can only conclude that these parents have lost their reasoning skills –completely. For example the reason not to read Goldilocks is that sends a message to steal. Hardly. If anything, the message is don’t break into houses because a family of bears might live there.
I want to look at why fairy tales are important for kids; why they’re essential stories for childhood.
8 Reasons Why Fairy Tales Are Essential to Childhood
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
― Albert Einstein
1. Fairy Tales Show Kids How to Handle Problems
We learn from the characters in stories, even as adults. They help us because we connect to our own lives, dreams, anxieties, and consider what we would do in their shoes. Fairy tales help children learn how to navigate life. (Bettelheim, B. Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales.)
“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
― G.K. Chesterton
2. Fairy Tales Build Emotional Resiliency
Fairy tales show real life issues in a fantastical scenario where most often the hero triumphs. (Except in Grimm originals.) Children need to discover in a safe environment that bad things happen to everyone. Because guess what? No one in life is immune from challenges — so we need to build capacity in our children. Do we build emotional muscles so our children can hang on during tough times or do we shelter our kids, protecting them, leaving them so weak they can’t handle anything requiring strength?
3. Fairy Tales Give Us a Common Language (Cultural Literacy & Canon)
Neil Gaiman writes, “We encounter fairytales as kids, in retellings or panto. We breathe them. We know how they go.”
4. Fairy Tales Cross Cultural Boundaries
Many cultures share common fairy tales like Cinderella, with their own cultural flavor. We read the versions and know we all share something important, the need to make sense of life with story, and the hope for good to triumph over evil.
5. Fairy Tales Teach Story
Fairy tales are understanding the basics of a story — setting, characters, and plot (rising action, climax, and resolution) as well as the difference between fiction and non-fiction. Once a child understands story structure, it supports his ability to make predictions and comprehend other stories he’s reading.
6. Fairy Tales Develop a Child’s Imagination
“When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.”
― Albert Einstein
7. Fairy Tales Give Parents Opportunities to Teach Critical Thinking Skills
I absolutely hate Disney’s The Little Mermaid. A girl abandoning her life for a boy is rubbish and no kind of role model for my daughters. Even the original version shows a weak woman who dies for the man — I don’t like it. (But at least she suffers the consequences!)
But.
It doesn’t mean I won’t let my kids read the mermaid story. Sheltering doesn’t give my kids critical thinking skills. Exposure and guided conversation do! (Maybe with a few groans from the peanut gallery.)
8. Fairy Tales Teach Lessons
Use fairy tales to teach morals and lessons. What can you learn from Goldilocks? How about Cinderella or Jack and the Beanstalk?
So, are fairy tales too scary for kids?
Sometimes.
You need to consider a child’s age and developmental stage. We don’t read a two-year-old the original Rapunzel where the prince is blinded and bloodied because the child won’t understand it anyway. Use your judgment as a parent. Let your children use their judgment, too — they’ll be able to say if they think the story is too scary or not.
You need to consider time of day to read the fairy tales. Perhaps some fairy tales aren’t meant to be bedtime stories. So, read them at lunch!
Just don’t ban fairy tales from your child’s life forever just because some are scary or politically incorrect. You can easily find modified versions if that works better for your child and your family.
What are your thoughts about fairy tales?
What are your favorites?
“Though now we think of fairy tales as stories intended for very young children, this is a relatively modern idea. In the oral tradition, magical stories were enjoyed by listeners young and old alike, while literary fairy tales (including most of the tales that are best known today) were published primarily for adult readers until the 19th century.(complete:http://www.endicott-studio.com/gal/galWi…)”
― Terri Windling
KEEP READING
Huge List of Fairy Tale Books for Children
Fairy tales have deeper levels than it appears. In the Emporer’s New Clothes, usually children are the ones that feel “exposed” and inferior, but innocence (a child) sees the deception. The 3 Little Pigs keep trying solutions. Goldilocks learns about boundaries/private spaces. Cinderella’s dreams are so powerful they do come true. Snow White and the dwarfs learn about friendship/service. Ali Baba discovers the power of words. Jack confronts the fear of the unknown, faces the challenge of leaving, and overcomes the ‘giant’ of greed, anger, & hoarding. Beauty/love are often disguised; we see only the Beast. Pinocchio has to learn self-control and not just to dance on the strings of impatience, jealousy, desire, approval of others. Rapunzel found both good and bad as she ventured away. And just like Sleeping Beauty, kids need time to grow and mature; quiet times to reflect are important. Kids try and figure out the ‘light of knowing’–reading, writing, numbers, etc that adults know–just like Aladdin. Fairy tales are 🙂 enlightening (I did a whole series on my 123kindergarten blog last March. I was so delighted to see yours!!) P.S. To kids, mothers do seem wicked: we make them go to bed, eat their veggies, pick up their toys. Sigh, we’ve been getting the bad rap for centuries.
Barbara,
I can’t wait to visit your blog and read that post! Thanks!!
Thank you for writing this. I’ve been genuinely frightened – oh, not by fairy tales, but by the number of supposedly sentient adults who think their children need to be protected from them.
I am the world’s biggest fairy tale fan – but even though I love Disney, I hate what his screenwriters did to our fairy tales. The little mermaid DIED, and Cinderella’s stepmother got a punishment appropriate to her horrendous treatment of a child. Etc.
Unabridged fairy tales rock. The abridgements not so much.
Hi Mamacita, I use the original fairy tales with children up to 8 and then recap on the original and add in the abridgements with 8 year olds who are quick to comment on what they feel has been omitted and whether they feel it adversely affects the story. I do not use fractured fairy tales until at least Grade 3 – students approximately 9 years of age – and then only after we have had years of reading and enjoying the original versions. I am also still selective about which I use even then. For example they find it amusing to hear the excuses of the Wolf as to what really happened with the three little pigs. He was really trying to borrow a cup of sugar to bake sick granny a cake and sneezed and accidentally blew the house down. It does not appear to detract from their enjoyment of the original story. (The true story of the 3 little pigs by A. Wolf ; as told to Jon Scieszka ; illustrated by Lane Smith. isbn 9780140544510. )
I had read all of Andrew Lang’s fairy tale books by the time I was 7 or 8. I believe they increase a child’s sense of wonder and imagination, and widen their worldviews beyond their immediate surroundings. “East of the Sun, West of the Moon: was always one of my favorites. Fairy tales led to science fiction and fantasy reading. No one can say that Tolkien, which I read first at 12, could do anything but expand a child’s imagination and sense of responsibility for one’s actions. This is one of the important aspects of fairy tales, in my opinion. And I cannot stand what Disney has done!
thanks, Lucy. I agree.
LOL – I let my kids watch prime time TV. Fairy tales are tame! 🙂
thanks for writing this valuable post! As you know my whole day is spent reading Fairy Tales to kids on my website. The lessons of these age old stories stand the test of time. They present important moral lessons. I am so glad you took issue with the UK survey as I was also appalled when I read it. I love that fairy tales are about ordinary people, from boys and girls to women and men, that find themselves caught up in a magical event. And the fact that there is a strong difference between the good and evil characters. I shared your post on my Facebook Page too.
thanks, Mrs. P!