07 January 2009

Children's bedtime stories - too scary???






Parents have stopped reading traditional fairytales to their children because they are too scary and not politically correct, according to research.

Favourites such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Rapunzel are being dropped by some families who fear children are being emotionally damaged.

A third of parents refused to read Little Red Riding Hood because she walks through woods alone and finds her grandmother eaten by a wolf.

One in 10 said Snow White should be re-named because "the dwarf reference is not PC".

Rapunzel was considered "too dark" and Cinderella has been dumped amid fears she is treated like a slave and forced to do all the housework..

Almost 20 per cent of adults said they refused to read Hansel and Gretel because the children were abandoned in a forest - and it may give their own sons and daughters nightmares...

The most popular book read at bedtime is now The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carl.

I respectfully disagree. Protecting children from scary things is not the way to prepare them for life. If they can watch the evening news or hear passages from the Old Testament, they can hear about Cinderella doing the housework.

Give them Maurice Sendak. The Brothers Grimm. Dore line drawings. (Bottom image from The Boy Who Was Never Afraid). If things are scary, teach them to deal with fear and overcome it. It's a skill that will come in handy.

7 comments:

  1. Oh. My. Gosh. No wonder kids are morons.

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  2. Me thinks these intrepid parents need THEIR parents to quit changing their diapers.

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  3. Thank goodness my daughters have more sense. My grandchildren have been read the classics. Two of my daughters loved "where the Wild Things Are" so much they memorized the book long before they could read.

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  4. Stan - Well said, my friend. Well said.

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  5. hit the nail on the head (perfect shot) If you don't encourage or teach your children to deal with fear and scary things guess what? they go through life as a basket case, lizzy bordon and charles manson may have been victims of incorrect child rearing!

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  7. Dwarf actually is politically correct.

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