Well, I happened to look at a link on twitter that was absolutely perfect for today's theme, and it sparked a lot of conversation in the car tonight. I have always loved fairy tales, and amazingly, this post from 2009 says exactly what I think should be said on the topic.
The author of this post makes a great case for not getting rid of fairy tales. I would never have thought about fairy tales being stereotypical or not politically correct. After all, who doesn't love to read about princes and princesses and lose themselves in a world of wizardry, magic, and sometimes dreams come true.
Let's see. Some people say that this story of Cinderella would teach my little girl that domestic servitude is what women do, and it is only a man like a prince who can rescue you from that life.
And of course, if I read this story to my daughter, she is going to go out and kiss a grizzly bear or a lion. Or maybe she will have terrible nightmares.
I have to say that I disagree. My daughter gets nightmares from stories that are not fairy tales. We were robbed last night--thankfully it was only a few electronics stolen from a car--and that caused her to go into hysterics. She went to see Soul Surfer and threw up because it brought back the terrors of my horrific dog bite. She sees the trailer for a horrifying film, and she wakes up with a horrible nightmare. And if Cinderella is supposed to teach her to pick up her room or Red Riding Hood is supposed to tell her that she should go wander in the woods, I think the stories have failed.
So, that is my take on that. By the way, all pictures appear on this post courtesy of the Graphics Fairy.
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