I find the following article in the Daily Mail extremely sad.
The classic Fairy Tales have been honed for generations to give children insight into the adult world from the safety of their home, surrounded by the love of their parents. From this safe vantage point they can start to experience their own psychological development and come to terms with thoughts and feelings that they generate for themselves.
The Fairy Tales allow children to dip a toe into the adult world and come back out again unscathed. They are given insight into how such problems may be overcome using their wits and their natural talents. How else can a person overcome a giant or a magical Genie other than by their wits? The Tales work at many levels and give something new to children of all ages. They are life stories.
In my view children are harmed much more by not being read these stories. Taken to extremes we should not teach children how to cross roads because the children will be afraid of being run over. We have to teach children about danger so that they can avoid it.
The most frustrating thing of course is that the article cites The Gruffalo as the favourite replacement. The Gruffalo is a wonderful story, one of the best modern Fairy Tales written. But what is it about? A small mouse who goes in to the dark woods and meets a wiley fox who invites the mouse for dinner. Why? You guessed it! The mouse is worried that he himself is the dinner so he imagines up a big friend - the Gruffalo who of course turns out to be anything but imaginary. Now taking for a fact that when reading or being read a story we all identify with the hero/ine of the tale we have a small mouse (the child) going into the dark woods (life) being faced with a bigger/older opponent (the fox) who he can only outwit using his/her brains. Now, tell me that isn't exactly the same as the old Fairy Tales.
The most frustrating thing of course is that the article cites The Gruffalo as the favourite replacement. The Gruffalo is a wonderful story, one of the best modern Fairy Tales written. But what is it about? A small mouse who goes in to the dark woods and meets a wiley fox who invites the mouse for dinner. Why? You guessed it! The mouse is worried that he himself is the dinner so he imagines up a big friend - the Gruffalo who of course turns out to be anything but imaginary. Now taking for a fact that when reading or being read a story we all identify with the hero/ine of the tale we have a small mouse (the child) going into the dark woods (life) being faced with a bigger/older opponent (the fox) who he can only outwit using his/her brains. Now, tell me that isn't exactly the same as the old Fairy Tales.
I hope that people will continue to read these wonderful stories to their children, after all they all end up happily ever after,
The Storyteller
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