Lions and Tigers and Fairy Tales OH MY!

Well if you want to get a room full of christian moms nervous talk about fairy tales...second only to fantasy books and mythology.

Maybe it's happened to you....you thought you'd read your child a fairy tale and holy cow! When did these things get so ugly and SCARY??? The problem that most of us have with fairy tales is that we don't realize that they are not meant for all ages of children. We've seen the "santized" versions that Disney puts out and have no idea what the originals even are. They should come with a rating system like the movies (G, PG, PG-13, R etc ) but they don't. Each fairy tale speaks to a different age group (3/4, 4/5 and so on) so there's nothing wrong with fairy tales in fact they are archtypes.

An archetype (pronounced: /ˈɑːkɪtaɪp/ (Brit.) or /ˈɑɹkɪtaɪp/ (Amer.)) is an original model of a person, ideal example, or a prototype after which others are copied, patterned, or emulated; a symbol universally recognized by all. In psychology, an archetype is a model of a person, personality, or behavior.

They help children sort out what bad, evil and the opposite good, kind are all about.

Then there's the problem with witches etc. Even the bible mentions witches so we shouldn't be so quick to throw out something just because of the language. If the word "witch" bothers you, you can always change it to a word that doesn't bother you and yet keep the fairy tale intact helping your child to see how good triumphs over evil.

I also don't recommend explaining a fairy tale to a child. Let the child "live" the story for a while. Remember that these stories are archetypes and that means the child internalizes the story and then figures out for themselves who the "good" guy is and who the "bad" guy is.

Some appropriate fairy tales for young preschoolers would be:

The Little Red Hen
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Little Tuppen
The Turnip
The Shoemaker and the Elves


Choose one story, memorize it and then tell it to your child every day for a week. Pick a time that's somewhat quiet and you can cuddle up. After the first day you can start adding little crafts about the story, or puppet shows or even acting it out.

Have fun!