Are Fairy Tales Suitable for Young Children?

385 Words2 Pages
Are they? Well, the answer is a strong, solid NO! “Why?” you may ask. Firstly, some might say that fairy tales expand your child’s imagination, much on the contrary, actually. Fairy tales might as well expand your child’s imagination, but in all the wrong ways. Before I go on, I would like to ask you a question, have you ever taken the time to actually read through the fairy tales and comprehend what they say and promote? I didn’t think so. Most people assume that fairy tales are full of good morals and promote better behaviour. Did you know that fairy tales are actually based off of old European folk tales that are based on violence and theft? Let me elaborate on these a little bit more… Firstly, fairy tales blur the important line between fiction and reality. Younger children, especially toddlers, depend on you, their parents, to show them what to believe in and what not to believe in. By exposing your young child to fairy tales at such a young age, you train them, to an extent, to believe what they are hearing when you read them fairy tales as their brains are developing. For example, if you read them Cinderella, your child would probably believe that any step-mother they see is evil or that there is a prince charming waiting outside their house with a glass shoe. As an adult, you can obviously tell that there are no realistic traits in that story as first and fore most; over a million females in the world maybe a size eight or six in shoes, right? Secondly, like I mentioned before, they promote violence! I mean, doesn’t the first sentence say it all? Children do not know that violence is bad. By reading them fairy tales, they would think that if their friend takes their toy without their permission, they can hit them. Did you know that in the original version of one of the most popular fairy tales amongst children, Cinderella, they are many aspects of
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