Parents take a note: FairyTale Stories are not that good for Kids

Fairy Tale Stories
Read out to your kids stories related to their passion. Fill your child's mind with good thoughts before they go to bed. Help them to achieve their DREAMS

Read out to your kids stories related to their passion. Fill your child’s mind with good thoughts before they go to bed. Help them to achieve their DREAMS

Majority of us parents have grown up reading Fairy tales and we truly loved it and at times imagined if we could be one of them…Cindrella, Snowwhite, Rapunzel. Which boy hasn’t imagined himself being the handsome and brave Prince Charming or the handsome hero with supernatural powers  constantly saving the world from disasters and villains.  But then truly speaking have we ever met a Prince charming riding on a horse or a Frog prince. Have we seen witches (leaving aside tele-serials), monsters. Also most stories ended this way -‘And they lived Happily Ever after’- but as parents we very well know that life is not all about happiness, but it’s more of a roller coaster ride. So why are we reading out these stories, which do not have any connection with ‘Present World’. Why are we censoring from children’s stories things like sadness, anger, jealousy, hard work and failure.

Are Fairy Tales the best option for young Minds

Children’s minds are like sponges and whatever you show them, tell them, it will leave an impression  in their mind forever. This is the age when they need to be introduced to the world of possibilities. Speak to them about astronauts, writers, scientists, leaders, artists and musicians. Introduce them to the great musician Beethoven who was deaf or dyslexic student Thomas Edison or Anne Frank, Jewish victim of the Holocaust. Take your child through real men’s life, their struggles, failures and funny moments. Gauge your child’s interest early on and tell them stories about great achievers from that field more. Let them go to sleep dreaming about becoming a pilot, soldier, computer whizz or even a business man.

Long, Long Long Ago…..Fairy Tale belongs to history

Myths, legends, folk fantasies, tales and stories, all have unknowingly been born much before the beginning of the world history we know. Beauty And The Beast and Rumpelstiltskin are more than 4,000 years old. Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel and Snow White, were rooted in a shared cultural history dating back to the birth of the Indo-European language family. Fairy Tales all together need to thank Grimm brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm, who first published these tales in 1812 titled Children’s and Household TalesIt’s truly surprising that these stories survived two world wars, many freedom movements and partitions and are still going strong. Probably we need to thank Walt Disney for it.

Fairy Tales are not totally BAD

The focus in ‘Pinocchio’ isn’t about a nose that can grow longer, but the undesirable consequences of lying. Similarly, the focus in ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ isn’t about the grandmother surviving the wolf despite being gobbled up, but the consequences of talking to strangers and trusting the wrong people. They also help in improving  imagination in young minds, enhance their creativity and reasoning skills. Fairy tales are a great medium to teach children indirectly several lessons of life. Only point to keep in mind is, it should not be the only thing that you give your child at young age.

Parents keep in mind

Give your child a good balance of fairy tales, non-fiction reads and real life stories. Let them grow up as a balanced human beings with mind full of passion to follow their dreams.

A set of good books that you could read to your kids:

Twisted Tales – 10 Odd tales about Famous scientists

On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein

The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos

Rosie Revere, Engineer

How to Catch a Star

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55 Responses

  1. I love this story. As a teacher, I never did read too many fairy tales. MY own kids seem to love them, but we mix them up with the rest of the genres as well!

  2. beautyissh says:

    Fairytails are so unrealistic and create a false image in minds of kids

  3. tom says:

    great post n we have similar thoughts​ i think

  4. stashingyarn says:

    Love the suggestions of the science books – I wish I could get my kids (older now) to get more interested in that sort of thing.

  5. Very progressive! Although my favorite story as a child was Cinderella, I do agree with you here. It seems girls in particular are heavily exposed to fairytales. Perhaps that is why facebook is so popular?

  6. ramiz says:

    ohh thanks for that informations before ı thought fairy tales improve imagination

  7. I love your post 🙂 I should show it to all my friends with kids, because not a long ago we had a disscusion about similar topic. They think that kids should stay with fairy tales and all the important will be teached in school 🙂 Great post 😀

  8. KD Harris says:

    Very informative! Great post.
    -KD
    http://weartofeast.com

  9. Ren says:

    Great topics and love your blog ideas.

  10. Shub says:

    Though I myself love fairy tales since they improve creativity and imagination, too much of everything is not good. Like you said right balance is important!

  11. Really…. I neva lykd stories much…

  12. Joshita JJ says:

    This was a great post. It is important read real life stories…

  13. Snigdha says:

    I never liked stories much and my son too ,specially fairy tale stories ..

  14. ghazala786 says:

    Yes I totally agree to what you have said , Its better not to make them believe in Fairy tales ending as real life is not like that , its better to tell them some stories which are realistic and have good moral teachings .

  15. Aimee says:

    100% agree with you!

  16. Dana says:

    My daughter is very big in princesses and fairy tales, you’re right it’s very important to see the underlying meaning in these tales.

  17. Papri Ganguly says:

    Yes, absolutely agree to your points.

  18. anamika says:

    When I was young, I used to read Fairytails or
    fictional stories. But I never mixed them with my real World … Still I love Fairytails … But I agree with your point of view

  19. Mrinal Kiran says:

    This is very true! I agree fully!

  20. yolonda says:

    My favorite childhood memories are lying in bed and being read to…one chapter a night…from a big book of Grimm’s Fairy Tails. But, thinking about it, I would have equally enjoyed a non fairy taile based book,

  21. divya says:

    WOW !!! This is just amazing about fairly tales ,now i m going to read these 🙂

  22. horsecowmeow says:

    I agree, great article!

  23. Great post. I don’t have kids yet, but I do believe that fairy tales do distort kids’ views to a certain degree.

  24. Great post! In my mind, fairytales are overrated. Anyway, nice blog!

  25. ivmalaric says:

    totaally support your statement about fairytales

  26. I love love love fairytales no matter how old I am.

  27. I think fairy tales are very important to build imagination and curiosity but as a science teacher I also want kids (my own also) to know that they’re not real. It’s all about balance.

  28. Chemady says:

    I agree with you on this.

  29. vicki law says:

    Read whatever books the kids are interested in whether that be fairy tales or not. It’s what keeps them reading books long after parents stop reading them bed time stories.

  30. Ramiz Kaydı says:

    yeah you are right about that subjetc …

  31. Fairy tales contain realistic stories but inappropriate for kids! I agree.

  32. I total agree on the fairytales, in my opinion we reallly should create new ones that is why I like the rewrites that young adult section has, more interesting. I grew up on sci-fi and Fantasy, but I do know the importance of non-fiction and historical books to build a child’s knowledge of the English vocabulary. Great post.

  33. This is a wonderful topic. Kids must be introduced to reality than a fairy tale world so that they can dream about possible things. It should be clear to them, that they can reach the stars not by flying with their wings but with rocket!

    • PanagiaAdmin says:

      Yes Divyanka. I loved your usage ‘that they can reach the stars not by flying with their wings but with rocket!’

  34. Quite informative article

  35. Bee Lovewell says:

    Agree, there are definitely so many more inspiring book options out there.

  36. Every parent needs to read this.I hope this post is used for parental counselling sessions in school

  37. These stories that have been told for so long were not always just for fun. They were intended to teach a lesson, but in the past few decades they have been couched in all of the sweet happy stuff and the hard lessons are left behind. I think it is good to have a variety of reading material for our children as you have stated. Good suggestions!

  38. Fairy tales are to build imaginations but if it goes too far where a child has trouble choosing between reality and fantasy, then thats a problem! http://www.clairebearblogs.com

  39. Ruchie says:

    Oh I loved d story .. fairy tales always makes me smiling

  40. Really nice story. Agreed, Fairy tales are so imaginary better we should teach some realistic stories to kids.

  41. Andy says:

    Though funny, but this is just the reality of things. We should start speaking and letting them know about realty and not some imaginative expression, as this will help to forge them into a better person.

  42. really interesting article. Thanks for sharing

  43. Shub says:

    This is an awesome piece of info. I didn’t know quite a lot of this info. Seriously, our body is such a complex mechanism and some bacteria are indeed our friends.

  44. Telling moral stories is one of the best ways of instilling moral values in a child. Here’s a collection of timeless moral stories in english your child can listen to and learn moral values.
    https://www.parentcircle.com/moral-stories-for-kids-in-english-for-competition/article

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