Children and fairy tale monsters

jgnat

I was sorting through my favorite quotes tonight, and this one floated to the top:

"Fairy tales don't teach children that monsters exist. Children already know that monsters exist. Fairy tales teach children that monsters can be killed" - G K. Chesterton

I am reminded of the hours spent reading stories of the brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson and Aesop. I remember well my budding political awakening as I realized that Aesop's moral tales could reverse themselves depending on circumstance. At twelve, I realized I was reading a court advisor! I'd think we had done our children a disfavor by sanitizing these old tales; with poisoned apples, imprisonments and beheaded trolls, but then I realized we now have video action games that do the same thing.

I think also of what I've seen in my years as a sunday school teacher, as toddlers mature to school age. The little children are not quite sure about the shadows behind the puppet. Is it real or not? But by about four or five, the children are well in on the joke and readily approach mascots, puppets, santas, clowns, and other imaginary monsters we foist on our children for entertainment.

Don't be fooled, our children are sophisticated social beings. They know a tall tale when they hear one. The longevity of our tall tales through the ages suggests that our children need to hear them, if only to suggest, by proxy, that the scary adult world can be navigated with wit and spunk.

I welcome your comments.

BurnTheShips

Very insightful, JGnat. I agree, we have sanitized the world of imagination far too much. Ignoring the shadow doesn't make it go away, and the shadow is an intrinsic part of our inner selves. These stories are merely expressions of them.

BTS

jgnat

The modern replacement, our zombie shoot-em-ups, depend on fast action and lightning reflexes. The heroes of the old tales survived by their wits. What are we teaching our children?

Dark Side

"the shadow is an intrinsic part of our inner selves"

I like that

BurnTheShips

The modern replacement, our zombie shoot-em-ups, depend on fast action and lightning reflexes. The heroes of the old tales survived by their wits. What are we teaching our children?

Beowulf was a hero old old too, and it was his mighty sinews that defeated Grendel. We've always had both archetypes. The sword of the hand, and the sword of the mind.

There's plenty of wit left in media when it comes to vanquishing monsters. We've got little hobbits outdoing armies of soldiers in defeating evil spells. We have young jedis saving the Galaxy, not by the sword, but by refusal to lower themselves to the evil they are fighting. Avatars save an alien race from rapacious invaders through cooperation. And so on.

BTS

jgnat

Good point, BTS. Modern evils harm our world. The concept of the world itself needing saving was alien to preindustrial times. I read one futurist who suggested it was the images of space of our own, small, world in the vastness of space that awakened humanity the vulnerability of our own planet.

quietlyleaving

nice points jgnat

I have 2 small grandchildren and was wondering if it would too grown up to ask them if they can think of different endings to stories? I haven't tried this yet but will perhaps when they are older.

epics are great too.

Violia

My parents would not let me read those so I have gone back and read this as an adult. It takes a lot of the fun out of it ,though.

gnat,nice to see you online. you have pm.

jgnat

Thanks for all sharing. Viola, I get an error message when I try and look at my PM's.

Children and fairy tale monsters

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