The Case for Not Sanitizing Fairy Tales by Haley Stewart
The Case for Not Sanitizing Fairy Tales by Haley Stewart
Haley Stewart recommends reading classic fairy tales to children without sanitizing them. The article discusses the importance of fairy tales in helping children process dark things, acknowledging evil, death, and violence in the world. It argues that sanitizing fairy tales or removing the possibility of happily ever after can be detrimental to children's understanding of truth and their ability to cope with fears. The author suggests that offering truer stories, steeped in fairy tales that don't gloss over the dark parts of the world, can equip children to face the monsters they fear and find their way back home.
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it is valuable to look back and what we've had in the past and see the benefits had by embracing it.
i think it's important to also balance that by looking forward to see how we can get those benefits in todays world and try to understand why it has become harder (or easier).
the article references many times that kids are smart. they will figure out when their stories are watered down and not embracing their own imagination. grim fairy tales are but one way to get practice with these ideas.
libraries are a great resource of new and old books that offer that practice in ways that streaming services and video games can not. they offer choice, allow for indulgance, but more important, give the mind the space and time to steep, reflect and try on the grim fairy tales that others have told along with the prince charming books that also have their own appeal.
with that said, i learned from this article about the heinous acts of the original little mermaid and cinderella stories. now those seem like compelling stories!
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