As kids and toddlers we all have heard fairy tales as bed time stories. Have you ever asked yourselves why? May be parents have lost faith with this idea, but education is a way out of poverty. Children who are told stories are the ones who first form abstract concepts across the curriculum – in other words, being read to makes you brainy. The best writers in the class are always those who are avid readers. Parents needed to get the message that reading really matters. Because wide-eyed child stirs something universal in parents just as fairy tales speak to something universal in kids.
If parents wonder: How about leaving some REALITY in their life and quit trying to put them in padded clothing. Soon they will not be able to 'deal' with reality because everyone has pampered their feelings so much. Little red riding hood was also a tale to warn young girls of the dangers of 'wandering too far into the woods' i.e. temptation... Good job, setting up the NEXT problem. Would you buy your children a beautiful new volume of classic fairy tales this season? And having bought it, would you read it to them? Do you read classic fairy tales to your kids, or is your bookshelf full of more sanitized versions? If you do read them, do you address the darkness in the stories, or let it go unless asked? Or just try to reflect upon the positivity in the tale?
Children think it's hilarious when the millstone comes down and kills the stepmother. Such violence in fairy tales helps children come to terms with fears for which they don't yet have language. The interactive delivery of fairy tales - a trusted adult usually reads them aloud to a child, fostering improvisation and discussion that's absent in passive entertainment like videos - further enhances their therapeutic qualities. Parents or adults provide their own cultural translations and reassuring explanations that can help allay childhood fears.
Some reasons why folktales are important, as well as entertaining...notes to parents in a world of overdrive. Babies. Toddlers. Kids. There are so many things they need to be taught, it boggles the mind. The difference between right and wrong. How to share? Why trust is important. How small acts can grow into something bigger? Of course, they will be taught these things from many people, in many ways. As parents, people who are constantly growing themselves - folktales offer guideposts for life. There are hundreds of them there - when you want to focus a young child on the importance of sharing, you can sit and listen to the tales. And when the situation arises, instead of directly scolding the child's behavior, you can make a reference to the story. "Remember what happened in that tale? Did they end up with anything?" Having the child recap what happened can be much more useful, interactive way to remind them of those important lessons for personal development than just another lecture. If kids are bickering about something not being "fair" - such as someone getting more dessert than the other, this is the perfect time to become the Wise Old Monkey, and ask, "Do you want me to take care of it?"
Stop, look, and listen to folktales. As Albert Einstein said,”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. 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." The writer G.K. Chesterton noted, “Children already know about dragons. What fairy tales tell children is that dragons can be slain."
Once upon a time people told each other stories for entertainment, and perhaps to some extent to help transmit their culture, for in the clash of cultures as was occurring throughout the age of fairy tale people will often define themselves by such stories. However as they passed their stories on from generation to generation something happened, their cultures changed, over and over again the concerns and thoughts of the people changed, some of these changes took years, others where dramatic from conversions to new religions, famines that drove them from their homes, and invaders from other lands. And as these people changed so too did their stories, morphing and evolving, these stories passed from culture to culture from person to person, and as they were passed on they would grow becoming a significance of the humanity from whence they came, and while such stories will always reflect the time that they come for they will reflect in some way thousands of years of human history, for the thoughts, fears, hopes, dreams, and lives of thousands if not millions of people back each story.
These people who told stories went through cycles, cycles of prosperity and of unparalleled poverty and horror, from times when starvation required the abandonment of children, to times when raging hoards from unknown lands destroyed everything that they held dear. Diseases swept the villages, with unknown causes the illnesses killed half the population prompting philosophers to advice parents not to get close to their children.
At the same time these people experience triumph as they built a Renaissance, found room to dream, had children they loved, and a spouse who loved them. Many of these people even experienced the courage to stand up against the darkness, to overthrow their lords and to hope for a better future.
This is the world of fairy tales, a strange world of magic and unparalleled human emotion. These stories are often the raw uncensored fears of the humans who created them, from dark woodlands to cannibals, incest, and wicked stepmothers, these stories tell of human history and human thought as few other things can. For as means of humanity folktales are not the thoughts and aspirations of one person but of generations upon generations of people. And each person has their own hopes, fears, and dreams. The fact that so many people have touched on fairy tales makes their interpretation in the historical purposes very difficult. For many symbols that made the first story significant have been altered, or taken out completely, replaced by new thoughts and ideas.
To begin to understand the difficulties in understanding fairy tales let’s try an experiment I will tell you about two folk tales from different lands, and you will attempt to guess at their meaning. In the first folk tale some children sneak out into the fields at night, and are cursed by evil spirits. Much like the first tale the second is the story of two boys sneak off into the long grass together, there they talk to a women they don’t know who gives them food. She then eats one of them and chases the other who barely escapes with his life.
What are the messages of these two fairy tales? If you said don’t sneak off at night your wrong, if you said don’t talk to strangers you’re wrong, and if you said anything involving sexuality you are very wrong.
Remember always that the fairy tales you read are not likely the original tales even if they were written exactly as told, for every time period in history changed these stories to fit their needs and ends, to match their culture.
It is important to continue the debate of fairy tales by helping rekindle half-truths and discussing some of the claimed myths, as well as some of the likely facts regarding fairy tales, and their emotional impact on people.
It is important to keep in mind also that even should the intended meaning of a story be to entertain the fairy tale will stroll transmit meaning. All Fairy tales are a way of transmitting messages it is just not always certain what this message might be. However to give a modern day example of such transmission of meaning the fact that everyone in movies needs to be beautiful to be loved gives these movies the message that you too must be beautiful to be loved.
Snow White transmitted this same message to the listeners of the past as the princess succeeded in getting the prince because of her beauty. At the same time of course this story also taught the listeners that those who obsessed competitively over how they looked would be punished. This is the interesting conundrum of stories, for our cultural prejudices will show through even as we try to eliminate the message these prejudices tell.
Think of this and then think about the Hansel and Gretel stories, an evil creature in the woods waiting to devour people and most especially children. While the meaning of these stories likely changed they could easily have some of their roots, or at least their prevalence in the dehumanization of other peoples, in the early Dark Ages. This however does not explain how the parents in many of these stories could just abandon their kids, especially to the wiles of the evil beings in the woods.
For much of the time of fairy tales millions of women and girls were burned as witches and so the fear that such things might be in the woods or in the castle was very real. So was the fear that a girl might succumb to the temptations of magic, the devil and witchcraft. People feared their daughters might follow the dark path of those portrayed in the stories.
Remember as you study fairy tales that they have duel many meanings, meanings which have changed over time as the stories have been edited and reedited to fit the time period of the telling. No matter how rich or how poor, city or country living, color of skin, we are all faced with decisions to make, challenges to face, and obstacles to overcome. Things happen that we don't want to happen. How are we to handle life? Folktales hold the answers to so many of these things -- throughout the ages; these questions have been dealt with. Of course, there is not just one way to solve a problem -- the variety of ways to approach life is reflected in folktales as well!
We all know that listening to or reading tales develops the skills for good readers, listeners, and writers. But most of all stories are good for the imagination. They inspire and stimulate, especially the young mind. When I share "Fairy Tales" in public performances, I can see the children’s faces change as they step into the story, become a part of the story. And for a moment, they are the ones balancing in a rice bowl, floating down a river; they are the ones flying high in the sky on a dragon, and they are the ones falling down into the hole and meeting the mice. Afterwards, they invariably ask if different stories are true - that is how utterly alive it seems to them.
Listening to stories is in some ways even more intellectually developing than reading a story, because your child is actually using her imagination to create the story from hearing the words. There are no pictures to watch or look at. Just their imagination. It fills them with optimism and prepares them to face and overcome any obstacle; and me with joy.
Although a few old tales have dark aspects to them, they are by far outnumbered by stories that are fun, adventurous, magical, and warm. I personally make sure that the stories I let know emphasize positive aspects of the stories, and bring out aspects such as cooperation, generosity, friendship and trust. In general, for all of their fearsome aspects, folktales are empowering. Folktales are here for a reason. Afterall, we all need seeds to grow on...
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