Are fairy tales too scary for kids?

A new survey suggests that they are! The poll, by TheBabyWebsite suggests that a quarter of parents have ditched classics such as Snow White and Hansel and Gretl in favour of more modern bedtime tales. Apparently they don't like the messages (leaving poor Hansel and his sister alone in the forest is a no no, as is sending Little Red Riding Hood on a journey alone through the woods - only to find out that granny has been eaten by a wolf!)

A fifth of parents said the tales weren't politically correct (Cinders does too much cleaning up, I guess, while Jack climbs up a beanstalk and steals from the giant), and 17 percent worried about them giving their children nightmares (Snow White's wicked witch is said to be too scary). Sixty five percent of parents said that they preferred to read their children more "light-hearted" stories at bedtime.

''Children love being read a variety of stories and it's a great shame that so many of today's PC mums and dads are rejecting fairy tales which have stood the test of time, entertaining children for hundreds or thousands of years,'' said Nigel Crawford from the website.

Oh dear.

Fairy tales have been around for centuries, and with good reason. They contain the most essential element of a great story - especially good versus evil (with good, fortunately, always winning). Yes, they can be scary, but children love a bit of tension, especially when it gets resolved.

"How sad!" agrees Suzanne Carnell, Editorial Director of Children's books at Pan Macmillan. They have a whole host of fairy tales in publication, including Lift-the-Flap Fairy Tales of The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk and The Three Billy Goats Gruff  illustrated by the hugely successful Nick Sharratt.

"My take would be that fairy tales are a safe environment in which to explore a young child's fears and that they are part of our heritage. They are also good stories, with a strong structure which works.  Every young child loves a baddie, and the baddies do get their comeuppance."

Former children's laureate Michael Morpurgo recently published his version of Hansel and Gretl, so the market for fairy tales does definitely seem to exist. There is also an assumption that children know these stories. Otherwise, how would brilliant books like the Jolly Postman, Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book and the fabulous Mr Wolf's Pancakes, work?

I say hurray for fairy tales, especially when they are revised (Cinderella and Snow White don't have to be such wimps, do they?) I'm not a huge fan of Jack and his beanstalk, but that's a small aside. There are so many ways these stories can be used, and so much depth to them (including the themes of wolves and lost parents). They are also so inspiring: after all, isn't the Gruffalo a kind of modern fairy tale? And don't let's forget, where would Disney and the Christmas Panto be without these classics?

Read below for the poll's list of books read regularly at bedtime, and of books which parents are apparently "reluctant" to read...

(PS They don't have to be read at bedtime!)

Read School Gate on:

The 20 best picture books

The best books for boys - even those who don't like to read!

Which children's book inspired you?

Which stories do you regularly read to your children at bedtime?

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle (1969)
Mr Men, Roger Hargreaves (1971)
The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson (1999)
Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne (1926)
Aliens Love Underpants, Claire Freedman & Ben Cort (2007)
Thomas and Friends from The Railway Series, Rev.W.Awdry (1945)
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame (1908)
What a Noisy Pinky Ponk!, Andrew Davenport (2008)
Charlie and Lola, Lauren Child (2001)
Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Robert Southey (1837)

Which fairy tales are you reluctant to read to your children at bedtime?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Hansel and Gretel
Cinderella
Little Red Riding Hood
The Gingerbread Man
Jack and the Beanstalk
Sleeping Beauty
Beauty and the Beast
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
The Emperor’s New Clothes

Comments

[Sophie]

It seems a shame that people take fairy tales so literally! They are brilliant magic and symbolic mirrors to our rational world, and contain all the beastly truth about the human psyche! Yes we are all the wolf, Cinders, the handsome prince, the daft youngest son, a forest of silver trees! There is nothing as exciting as the images out of fairy tales, which is why I find such joy in illustrating them! When we read or listen to them we can enter another world completely...a lot of them are hysterically funny as well as dark. As is well explored they were not really for children untill the 19th century, when all peasanty stuff got infantilised. They were for all generations of folk, so have many levels in them... if your granny and her granny survived the listening surely thats proof of their enduring comfort!

[Emily]

This is just political correctness gone wrong
When I was younger i used to listen to tape versions of Heidi, Black Beauty, Gullivers Travelsets etc. Even though these might not be traditional fairytales, more like childrens books, I loved them, and I get scared easily. Come on, they nearly kill him at one point in Gullivers Travels! If I can read/listen to those stories I think younger children who are exposed to more violence on Tv than I ever was can cope with Snow white

[Caroline]

As parents its our resonsibility to provide a variety of reading material for our children to enjoy and learn from.

Fairy tales are well devised stories that often have enjoyable repetition, excellent logical structure, and a general positive message.

We can over examine the meaning of fairy tales from an adults point of view, but the beauty of being a child is that children don't see things the same way.

Fairy tales are a part of a culture and by eliminating them from your childs upbringing, you are taking away a part of their childhood.
They are a part of general knowledge and the stories found in fairy tales are often discussed or play acted in schools.

Obviously if a child finds a particular story scarey or uncomfortable it should not be continued to be read. But I believe that a child will tell you what they enjoy and what they do not.

This is simply political correctness gone mad!

[DWIGHT]

I remember being scared by the Wicked Witch in Disney's Sleeping Beauty, because she seemed for a while to be winning and destined to come out on top.
However I agree that suffering a hot sweat while such dreadful things happen in your story are a healthy preparation for life for a child. A sort of cathartic awakening to life's tricks and traps and how some people can behave towards you.

On the other hand, I have a bone to pick with writers of books, films or TV who glorify evil deeds. And this spreads from ingenious new ways to disrupt life at school (which can then be copied by those who feel thus inclined) to cunningly devised ways to perpetrate crimes and extremist disasters. I don't see how they can justify setting up situations which can readily be applied to everyday life and then supplying the ammunition.

[Camilla]

We have come to an era where PC is the new enemy, when everyone who embraces an alternative to the 'good old days' is a 'wowser'. As a feminist who encourages critical analysis, I believe that looking into fairy tales as a cultural production is important for children and adults alike. I don't believe in banning things that I disagree with, I believe in learning. Indeed, the day we ban Snow White need not come - but lets keep it and work with it for the right reasons, not as a reaction to leftist parenting- which can be positive and fun (its not all wheat germ and soy-cookies, really!) if we have playful, autonomous questioning rather than censoring and deprivation.

[Claire]

I would read all of the fairy tales above to my kids (when I have some, lol I'm 16!) except, perhaps, for the emperors new clothes to a kid below 9/10, unless they wanted to/were very bright. This is because I read it as a child and was utterly confused, it is more of an adults fairy tale really. I do find Hans Christian Andersen very sad on the whole. The little matchgirl in particular I wouldn't give to a very young child, even though her death is glossed over slightly and phrased nicely;it is still not something I'd want to read just before bedtime! A good one for explaining to kids where their grandmother has gone if she dies though.

[Kathy]

Fairy tales these days have been disneyfied greatly so don't have the same effect unless you read from the originals (or at least the closest version you could get).

I thing the stories told in fairy tales do repeat themselves in modern day children stories because the good versus evil moralistic teachings are still there in many childrens books, it's just a different format.

Also, there is a lot out there that explains just how nasty our modern world can be, it nice to have some moments where we can wrap them up in cotton wool, because it won't last for long.

[Jade Carmichael]

Don't make me laugh, they should read the original fairy stories: Incest, paedophilia and beastiality all featured respectively. Believe me, Walt Disney is tame. Failing that, read a couple of Angela Carter versions...guaranteed to disturb.

[hill]

I think many of the story lines in some of the tv soap operas are more scary for children today than the old-fashioned fairy tales of long ago when good always triumphs over evil.

[Don Meaker]

My 4 year old loves the three bears story. It has such strong structure (papa-mama-baby, over and over) that she really gets the idea that you have to look ahead, that actions have consequences. If only someone had told that story to Barney Frank!

[Yi-Peng Li]

I admit I never had much problems with fairy tales, as I tended to like the way the stories were told and structured. Yes I admit that some stories may be scarry, but I think that it's OK because they lend some tension to the tales. I myself grew up with the Ladybird Well-loved Tales series, and enjoy the way these retellings of fairy tales still keep their original atmosphere.

[B. Carla Yap]

I grew up watching Walt Disney cartoon movies.

They were awesome and superb. They still are.
If these movies are so bad and scary for kids,
then hey, ask your grandmothers and grandfathers or your mothers and fathers from the 1960's to the 1990's, why they even bother to let you watch them.

Regeneration doesn't mean erasing the past.

kids nowadays may be different from the kids of the 20th century but we all know that a lot of them or most of them adore these cartoon stuffs.

[B Good]

Poor Jack - the real victim of this debate. Held up as a bad example, decried as a thief and a murderer - have you no sense of justice? Jack was a hero in the true sense of the word. Originally cursed for his poorly reasoned purchase of (some said) a worthless resource, Jack turned his failure into success. He used the beanstalk to make raiding forays into the territory of the Sky-giant, a notorious dictator and mass murderer well known for consuming the flesh of his victims, not to mention making baguettes of their bones.

Robin Hood was a hero, stealing from the oppressive merchants and nobles to help the needy (and himself in the process, no doubt). John Brown was a hero, stealing guns and explosives from the state militias to help bring an end to slavery in the USA. So, too, Jack must be a hero, stealing the golden goose to finance his campaign to end the giant's reign of terror.

As for violence, gore, and death - those are naturally a part of life, which we all must learn to deal with. Keeping children insulated from life prevents them from being able to make decisions firmly based in reality. Further, I believe that children should have scary stories read to them. If they are allowed to learn how to deal with fear at a young age, perhaps they won't grow up into fearful adults who vote for representatives who promise to "protect" them, rather than those who are truly qualified to be statesmen and women.

The real problem with most fairy tales is that they do not depict reality closely enough. As several comments show, the lesson most people seem to be taking from the fairy tales of their youth is that good guys always win and bad guys always get their comeuppance.

[phoenix]

I grew up with fairy tales. I loved them. I loved that the wolf swallowed grandma and they cut him open to get her out. I learned that the evil get their comeuppance and that good prevails.
I think people have gotten to be spineless weenies. Too scared to hurt someones feelings, to scared to be honest. Too scared of real life. I grew up without all this PC bulldust and we all got along fine without it.
I plan on reading fairy tales to my kids. They are alot safer than even some of the drivel they play on "kids" tv shows.
To all the people that acutally swallow this PC junk...get a life. Grow up and stop whining someone hurt your feelings.

[Bill Corr]

Is there a gap in the market?

"NASTY TALES: Appalling fairy tales for disturbed parents and their even more disturbed children."

And, yes, we know about OZ and NASTY TALES but I mean nasty tales specifically for children like the one which a fiction-hero of Saki told on a train.

[Lynette]

Fairytales are stories with hidden meanings, almost non-religious parables.

If you want to bring your child up to be open minded reading them fairytales won't stop it. If anything the world is quite a scary place and if you don't give children even a faint view of that you aren't teaching them anything, and doing them a disservice. Kids aren't idiots, they can suss it out.

[gerry]

Snow white, however- that's just about necrophilia... who in their right mind would KISS A CORPSE THEY FOUND IN A GLASS BOX IN THE WOODS?!
Ruth, in the original it wasn't a kiss but rape.

[Roz]

I decided not to read my 6 year old son Fairy Tales for 3 reasons:

1. they are b*ll*cks;
2. he's prone enough to nightmares as it is;
3. he doesn't like them as they don't stand up to his rational questioning, so he gets bored and asks for something better.

Let's take Cinderella: what does it say to the girls?

1. Women's characters are easily judged by the maxim 'Pretty girls are good, ugly girls are bad'.
2. If passive aggressive relatives dominate you and make your life hell, just sit down and have a day-dream about a Fairy Godmother making it all better instead of standing up for youself.
3. You will be valued for your looks, not your hard work.
4. A Fairy Godmother will make the impossible possible.
5. Unbeknown to you, animals can REALLY be turned into people, and vegetables into transport.
6. You need a new dress for every party.
7. A man will want to marry you because of your dainty feet, not your witty, incisive conversation.
8. You're a girl, he's a bloke, so he calls the shots in the dating game - you just hope you're good enough to be noticed.
9. If the man you fancy gets close to finding out what you are really like inside: run away!
10. Play hard to get.
11. Modesty is rewarded, not overlooked: let them guess you own the shoe - don't fight for your man by telling them!
11. For your life to be a Fairy Tale you must completely overlook the coachman and set your hopes ludicrously high on an aloof Prince who expects to pick out his wife from amongst the best dancers at a ball.
12. A 'Happy Ending' involves marrying a handsome, rich man and living in a big house with servants: everything thereafter will be peachy.

OK, I'm still seduced by the last one, but the list is endless - and that's just the line of questioning my son (who I don't want to pick me a future daughter-in-law based on who danced best at a party) would take - before demanding to be read 'What Do People Do All Day' by Richard Scarry. An eminently sensible choice!

[Jenny]

There are too many thoughtless assertions, both in the article and in the comments, here, about "all children". There are solid reasons why children (and adults) vary on ability to tolerate - or even enjoy - fear, or terror. Some find ways to cope, some cannot. Good parents, or teachers, respect that. Others consider it a weakness, maybe even keep trying to push terror on children. All my life I've found most "fairy tales", war games, theme park rides and horror movies too scary. My stress signals soar. But it has been no barrier to enjoying life. There are plenty of other pleasures. Respect children's individuality.

[jentho]

So - we don't read tales which show kids generally getting through scary situations safely without panic, and often getting the better of their unpleasant elders (eg Hansel & Gretel). But we insist that a scary old man they can never see sneaks through locked doors and into secure houses and rummages round their bedrooms while they sleep, getting up to God knows what. Am I missing something here?

[Remedios]

I admit that I "adapt" a little bit the traditional fairy tales when I read them to my sons. I thought it was terrible that the wolf did swallow the granny or that the witch in Hansel and Gretel was pushed into the oven...although I didn't have any trauma from this. Maybe we "modern" parents are too protective.

[Adam Farish]

Apparently the story of Cinderella and the "ugly sisters" comes from a much earlier Celtic legend. The "ugly sisters" in question were three talking heads. Thus, I believe there must be truth in the idea that children's stories are too scary!

[liam]

watership down! although not a fairytale, but a childrens "cartoon" still scares me to this day! and i'm almost 30 years old! bloody rabbit fights and scary scabby rabbits, put me off for life!

[Anamika]

We grew up on Russian fairy tales - thanks to the Cold War. I loved them as a child and find them - now as an adult - to be far darker and far more satisfying than the Grimms and Hans Christian Andersen ones. They also have great role models for little girls - the heroine always tramps through the snow, wearing out seven pair of metal-soled boots, defeats the evil monster/ice queen with her courage and wits, and finally wins her prince. Far better than Cinderella/Sleeping Beauty.

[Queensland apron]

Get a grip world ! In conmparison to what any child can see every day on the TV, in magazines and outside their window, fairy tales are definatly a soft touch.
At least they are getting the benefit of weel chosen sentences and thought evoking worlds rather than the sound bite land of the modern tale.
Long live the traditional !

[DAVID VINTER]

Nothing ever bothered me [including newsreel pictures from Belsen ] until at 11 when I read Tales of Mystery and Horror, by Edgar Allen Poe! That really gives you the willies.

[anna]

i had nightmares about the witch in sleeping beauty until i was about 15 years old.

[jac]

Isn't it just a question of 'when' in reference to all these things. I think fairytales are fantastic but they come in various forms from the simple narrative with pictures that are suitable for quite small children, to the sophisticated and often sinister collections of Red, White, Blue Fairy Tales edited by Laing - recommended reading for a 9-10 year old in my view.

I understand why people might stop reading a story if it upsets a child - who could have a problem with that. It isn't fair to force fear on a child and there will be a opoint when experiencing 'safe' fear is what the child wants.

If you want yuk and inappropriate, try Madagascar. I saw a troup of under-5s at the screening I went to - a group from a nursery. I thought it was a totally inappropriate film for under 10s ( a nightmare of puerile, predictable jokes for adults) and wished I hadn't taken my daughters aged 5 and 7 and we spent most of the time outside. As it happened I was ranting (!) to a friend about how horrible (relentless aggression, no characters at all, no story, nothing that was childish) it was and one of the women escorting the group of nursery children tapped me on the shoulder to say she couldn't agree more.

Give me Little Red Riding Hood any day (however sublimated the very sinister ideas!)

[Hyuuga2606]

I grew up listening to these fairy tales and i'm fine!! Scary?? watch The Exorcist. Thats scary

[Sonia]

If you think the fairy tales are scary then the rides based on them at the Disney parks genuinely are frightening.

I think people forget that children as well as adults get a thrill from being scared, hence the popularity of thrillers and horrors. Fairy tales provide a safe environment for this.

[Ruth]

The whole point of fairy tales was to scare children into behaving- little red riding hood is about not trusting strange men for example.

Snow white, however- that's just about necrophilia... who in their right mind would KISS A CORPSE THEY FOUND IN A GLASS BOX IN THE WOODS?!

[Steffi]

I read my 4 and 6-year-old daughters "The Wind In the Willows" a few months ago. Or rather, tried to: The narrative is gorgeous, but sooooo sloooowwwww that they started yelling "Not that story again! Nothing ever HAPPENS!" every time I took it out.

On the other hand, the classic Disney film "Pinocchio" is jaw-droppingly scary for small kids, too... I had totally forgotten about the island full of small kids who had been taken from their parents and turned into donkeys who had to work all day!

All in all, I definately agree that we can't pack up our kids in cotton wool and protect them from EVERYTHING till they move out. They enjoy getting a bit scared now and then, and as long as we have some sort of grip on WHAT exactly is scaring them (knowing what they're seeing/reading) and can explain things to them, they'll be fine!

[Tina Jones]

The list of 'stories you are reluctant to read' contains a lot of Ladybird story books that I have in my office. I teach English to foreigners and I sometimes loan out these books so they can read them and get to know some classic English fairy tales. One of my Israeli students took The Gingerbread Man and Goldilocks and the Three Bears (amongst others) home with her to read to her smallest children. She also translated the words into Hebrew and the girls loved the stories - they were three at the time. They wanted to hear the stories again and again.

As for the Wind in the Willows, what about the vile character of Mole? As for Charlie and Lola, what about the manipulative character of Lola? A role model? I hope not.

[Tina Jones]

Strange that the only two films I've seen children cry over are The Lion King (death of Simba's father) and Bambi (death of Bambi's mother). And they're not classic fairy stories.

There are a lot of fairy stories, folk tales and fables and they all teach people how to live. Aesop's fable about the ant and the grasshopper would have been a good one for most people to have had in mind in the current economic climate, for example. All such types of stories were not just written for children but also for adults when most people could not read. The stories were designed to be memorable. A wishy-washy story in which there is no triumph over evil will not keep the reader's or listener's attention and will not be remembered for long.

[Bill Peter]

When I was young (a long time ago!!), my late father took me to see the film Snow White. I had to be carried out screaming "don't eat the apple".

[Bill Peter]

When I was young (a long time ago!!), my late father took me to see the film Snow White. I had to be carried out screaming "don't eat the apple".

[GregInSanJose]

I have a very well loved copy of the uncut and un-pc original Grimm's Fairy Tales that I read to my girls (ages 4 and 6) when requested. They love the stories and ask for them constantly. It's a huge treat for them to be given a 'big book' story.

They cackle with glee when the wicked stepmother and her daughters in Cinderella are made to dance in red hot iron shoes until they die. It appeals to a very primitive and basic sense of fairness.

We forget that kids are tough with each other and tough on the playground. They have a very strong sense of right and wrong, and they love to see evil punished. Fairy tales are a safe place to explore dark themes like death and loss. These things exist in our world, no matter how sanitized, and it's our job as parents to prepare our kids for the real world. If we leave them all wilting weaklings, how will they ever stand up to an abusive boss or a demanding husband?

[peter c]

fairy tales are often repositories of ancient and traditional psychological truths and wisdom, much like the Greek myths; Our ancestors intentionally put them there there that we might learn them without wiseacring.

[Bernie]

Fairytales are wonderful both for children and adults. It is up to the adult reading the story to protray it well and not scary.

I do object to the "Wicked Stepmothers" though as it sticks in the mind later on in life.....due to experience.

Good luck to all reading Fairytales as they can be a way of fantasising aswell and going into a childs world for a little while...enjoy.

[Peter]

@JG - As someone who is definitely on the autistic spectrum I can appreciate your dilemma. I know that it was not easy for my parents to deal with the difficulties that an autistic child presents.

I don't want to presume to tell you how to raise your kid, or how to be a good parent, but as someone who knows what it's probably like inside that kid's head, I'd ask you to do your best not to insulate her from the world, no matter how scary it might be to her. She needs to know that you are always there for her, she needs to always have a safe place to return to, but there is no escaping the fact that life is not a pretty place. "The hardest thing in this world is to live in it."

I've known friends like myself, who are on the autistic spectrum, and who grew up in very 'safe' environments. Their parents did everything to keep them from the things that troubled them. I've watched those same friends fall apart completely whenever life throws them a curve-ball.

My parents never tried to keep me safe from anything. On the contrary, no matter how much it hurt them to do so, they confronted me with the reality of life and forced to deal with it, and the result is that I am now a person who keeps it together when everyone else is losing their heads. Having the emotional strength to cope with the world comes from being tested by the trials of life.

Everyone's experience is different, every person is different, but everything that I have seen tells me that for a child with your daughter's difficulties, not being insulated from the world is her best chance for learning to cope with the world.

[Dr Funfrock]

I think the issue here is that our fairy tales aren't scary enough. Like everything else, we've sanitised them.

Know what happens to a child who grows up in a completely sanitised environment? They develop no worthwhile immune system to speak of, and then cannot live in the real world because it is too dangerous.

Every child needs to get sick sometimes, and every child needs to get scared sometimes.

[Rosalind (Macmillan)]

Hurray for fairy tales indeed – please don’t give up on them, mums and dads! Luckily for us publishers, children’s appetite for fairy tales shows no sign of fading. In fact, Nick Sharratt and Stephen Tucker’s wonderful rhyming versions of some of the best known stories are so popular that we’re publishing new editions with free audio CDs (look out for ‘Cinderella’ and ‘The Three Little Pigs’, in shops in May!).

In fact, lots of today’s most exciting authors and artists are drawing inspiration from traditional stories. Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks’ magical ‘The Princess and the Wizard’ has all the ingredients of a familiar fairy tale – a fairy godmother, and a wicked wizard who turns people to stone – but its feisty heroine proves that princesses needn’t be wet and weedy. And I can’t sign off without mentioning Emily Gravett’s glorious ‘Spells’; it couldn’t exists without the traditional story of the Frog Prince, but this wonderfully imaginative book breaks free from the conventions in every way!

[Hol]

JG -

As someone who came out with the 'for goodness' sake' argument, I'd just like to clarify that when I (and I'm sure others probably) were talking about that it was about not banning them altogether when the vast majority of children are fine and the minority of children who unfortunately have such difficulties (like your little girl) can be kept away from them rather than outright writing them off as too scary for all.

I'm sorry if that wasn't clear or I was just too generalised, I'd never want to overlook children like your daughter. If she finds fairy tales too frightening, might I suggest Enid Blyton for her if/when she's old enough? I wouldn't say her whole collection, some of her books may involve similar 'baddies,' but with a bit of pre screening you should find something suitable :o)

[Rik]

What on earth is the fuss about? parents just exercise judgement in these matters. If your children like them, read them to them! But no parent is going to scare the bejeebers out of their child at bedtime!

[jonquil]

i much prefer the original 'little mermaid' than the drivel that disney came up with. ech--consumerist pablum. the world is a scary place at times. when children are getting old enough to realize this, is when fairy tales come into thier own.

[JG]

It's all about context, isn't it? Most securely attached kids won't have a problem with fairy tales. But there are some children who will - believe it or not, but some children are unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality like 'normal' children. My younger daughter is one of these. It is possible that she is on the autistic spectrum - the specialists can't agree. But she is nine and still terrified of the characters at Disney. She doesn't find fairy tales remotely inspiring or a safe way of exploring some deep fears. She is totally literal and doesn't understand the underlying message, only that there really are witches out there ready to eat little kids.

So, people who always come out with the "oh for goodness sake" sort of argument, please bear kids like my daughter in mind. They actually do exist.

[Hol]

I particularly liked Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes for a slightly subversive twist on the old classics...

[MissJubilee]

Gracious. Fairy tales have gone in and out of fashion for years and no doubt will continue to. It's silly to cocoon the children, yes, but really each parent should make the decision of what their children are ready to hear at whatever age they are.

And really, Disney and other modern productions have cleaned them up a lot. Fairy tales WEREN'T WRITTEN FOR CHILDREN to begin with, they were adult stories, collected from oral tradition, and quite violent! It was only when the adults decided they'd rather read things that were more "realistic" and "scientific" that they got tossed down to the children and prettied-up.

For a much more eloquent statement of this, read J.K. Rowling's "Tales of Beedle the Bard" - the "commentary" by Dumbledore after each fairy tale is spot-on (and often hilarious) regarding parents' and modern authors' reactions to the stories.

[Jos]

My mum gave me a 1961 translation of Grimm's fairytales recently, a lovely copy picked up from a second-hand bookshops. It's full of poetic archaic language and all the dark bits have been left in. My children love having this read to them.
And their nightmares are never about fairytales, but about fears that are real - parental abandonment (when their friends' parents split up), the things they see on the news and in my youngest's case, about all her teeth falling out (she's currently going through the wobbly teeth - visits from tooth fairy - new adult teeth stage. Pooh to this survey!

[Freddie]

And of course going to sleep itself is too dangerous, they might fall out of bed, but getting up they might fall over...why do we bother living at all, isn't it all too dangerous?

Don't be silly, they're children, not porcelin.

[Jon Fox]

So what's it to be? Snow White or DragonBall? A story or a sequence of random violence? Read Bruno Betelheim on the psychological meanings of these tales and you'll understand why they are timeless. They are about coping with the human condition, fragility of life, growing up, attachment, relating to others, good and evil. Remember also that they come from times when life was brutal and short. I love many modern stories too ("Anthony and the Aardvark" is witty and the rhythmn of "Sloth's Shoes" is a joy) but these tales say something much deeper, they are on a different level. Being reluctant to read them to children is just being wet.

[Tom Franklin]

No, fairy tales are not too scary. Children are too mollycoddled, ending up weak and pathetic and their parents are too stupid and crap.

[Susan]

We coccooned them so they couldn't hurt themselves in the playground; we coccooned them so they couldn't be punished for anything by anyone; now we finally coccoon them from 'evil' fantasy.
No wonder these kids grow up to be thugs who can't be said no to, and can't handle what life throws at them.
Don't like it? destroy it! can't handle it? get out! (eg marriage) He/she doesn't agree with you? Attack! Someone/something hurt you? Sue! How simple life is - not!

[ari.]

as if kids weren't smothered enough already.

[k]

why does everyone have to argue all the time?

[Tara@Sticky Fingers]

Pah. What utter utter rot.
If you don't like fairy tales, don't read them but don't try spoiling it for all the 'normal' people who enjoy them - and have done since we were tots.

Oh and Chris "I am going to write to Neighbourhood Watch to suggest they call the police if any ogres, wolves, witches and handless maidens come round our way" - just brilliant. I actually laughed out loud during a read that was totally depressing me!

[jonathan]

How wet can you get?

[tiredmum]

I didn't worry too much after telling my daughter about the three little pigs and the huffing, puffing wolf. However when we visited Father Christmas she became quite concerned that he was going to come down the chimney "like the big bad wolf" - I can see some mixed messages here!

[Chris Reed]

I think these stories are very dangerous and give children entirely the wrong messages about life. Terrifying little children with tales of ogres and wolves, witches and handless maidens is tantamount to child abuse. They should be reading the Bible, with that totally true tale of that virgin birth, and all that fascinating infanticide and incest, or even that rising from the dead thing. Or play nice computer games with all that wholesome shooting, stealing & crashing cars, waging war and cyber sex. Evidence suggests that what children experience in fantasy, they play out when they meet a similar situation in real life. So I am going to write to Neighbourhood Watch to suggest they call the police if any ogres, wolves, witches and handless maidens come round our way. They don't need to worry about guns, car theft of sexual abuse of course, it doesn't present a risk in real life as long as you have your head in the sand or up your own @#$% ?

[starling]

I'm sorry, Ginny, but how is "don't be bad" not a moral? That's basically what all fairy tales tell us.

[Mark Turnbull]

But traditional fairytales play their part in preparing children for real life and all its cruelty, scariness and violence. If we cocoon children only with 'happy', sunny tales set in some ideal PC world where everyone 'respects'everyone else, they won't be able to recognise the other side of the coin eg when what they thought was respect/love turns to extreme violence. When love becomes so delusional, obsessive, it must possess, control and, in some extreme cases, even kill. Like a psychological suspense novel I recently read which depicts how love can turn to extreme violence. Reviews on Amazon led me to it but didn't prepare me for the shock of the part played by love that becomes obsessive,all-consuming but so realistic. Emotional damage from all those classic fairytales read as a child? No way! Rather preparation for real life.(Incidentally that book was called The De Clerambault Code by Nora Johnson. A good read too).

[Graeme]

Fairy Tales are meant to be cautionary tales...and so need to have some danger to them. Parents that are scared of reading these to their kids are probably also scared to let their kids go anywhere and do anything...

[chris]

"Todays PC mums and dads". Where are they? I dont know of anyone who subscribes to this drivel or even anyone who knows of anyone who does. I would guess that to admit to agreeing to this tripe would be tantamount to admitting to being "sixpence short of a shilling".

[Redhead]

For goodness sake! I hate to use such a cliched phrase but what is the world coming to? These tales have been around for years, I read them as a child, my parents did and my children will. They're a good source of entertainment and I never once thought that the world was a dark, horrible, immoral place from reading them. Some people need to stop worrying and wrapping their children in cotton wool.

[Ginny]

I don't like fairy tales! Sorry to be the party pooper! They are very dark, have a horrible messages (yes, the heroine gets to win, but the others usually have to suffer/die) and no morals! I much prefer other books. Do you really want your kids to think that Jack or Goldilocks are heroes?

[Hol]

Oh how ridiculous - generations of kids have been brought up on fairy tales without being traumatised at the Big Bad Wolf swallowing Grandma! They all end happily ever after anyway...

At the weekend I had the pleasure of accompanying a friend and a three year old to the panto - Snow White. She didn't bat an eyelid, and to my knowledge neither did any of the other children present.

(As an aside, she may have been the best behaved three year old I've ever come across, the trip was a delight)

[Debra Lee, Pittsburgh]

Good grief! You don't think the crap kids see on TV isn't frightening! The commericals give us nightmares!! Besides, I remember reading or being read these Fairy Tales and thinking that I needed to be more careful - what a good lesson for an innocent child who thinks everybody and everything is o.k. - until they learn differently. Hopefully they learn through innocent reading instead of for real!! You idiots!!

[Maggie Stanfield]

This is political correctness gone daft! children reared on these tales aren't today's murderers and paedophiles. Go off, all you doubters, and read that most wonderful of spoofs on this. It's called Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Gardener (7.99) and is published by Souvenir Press.

[starling]

They think these are scary? Then they should read the originals! Prince Charming's mum was a cannibal. Jack's giant ate his own daughters. I have a book full of these tales, with (gruesome) illustrations.

[newjerseygirl]

I agree - there's a good reason why some fairy tales have been around for centuries: they're terrific. My three-year old son asks me to tell him the story of Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty every night (and even acted out Cinderella, using my one pair of evening shoes as a prop) and he's loved Nick Sharratt's illustrated versions of Goldilocks, Red Riding Hood, etc.
IT would be a shame to deny a generation these fantastic stories - maybe if some parents are so worried about scaring their little cotton-wool-wrapped darlings, they can see something like Red Riding Hood as a cautionary tale ('see what can happen if you run off on your own...!')???