We
do not even have to take an eye to parents who prevent fairy tale from their
children. They said that the violence, exaggerated, and imaginative stories are
their reason why they are not allowing their children to read them. They also
think that children will not even like that kind of stories. However, in fact, fairy
tales are not always showing them bad things. It is even well-known and loved
by many people today, and of course, children. Some researchers are also shown
that fairy tales give many advantages for children. Then why do not those
‘selfish’ parents change their perspective? They should try it by reading fairy
tales for their children and see the result.
Fairy
tales contain many moral values since it was targeted for helping people to
face their daily problems in the real world; and it also has same effect for
the children, fairy tales’ content can help them to face their daily problem. They
can identify their feeling with the character inside the story, such as fear,
hope, love, dreams, hate, loneliness, wishes, and many more. For example, in
“Little Red Riding Hood” story, it may contain violence since the antagonist,
the wolf, is trying to eat the protagonist. Although it is kind of ‘violent’
story, this story is not even showing any bloody scene that may causes children
frightened. From many versions of this story that I have read so far, it only
explains that the wolf simply eats the grandmother, and also, the story does
not describing how the wolf eats her. Besides, the positive side that can be
taken from the story is more dominant. The cause of the grandmother ends up
eaten by the wolf is the little girl’s fault. Her mother obeys her to go
straight to her grandmother’s house and not talking to any strangers, but she
is being reckless. In other words, this story simply implies the moral value; it
teaches the children to always obey their parents’ order and not to talk with
the stranger.
Folk
heroes often have to take several hurdles before they accomplish their goals.
That means disappointment does not signal the end of a struggle, the heroes
have to continue until they are successful. The struggle of the hero/heroine of
the fairy tales themselves will affect children feeling deeply, because it
teaches them to work hard no matter how many times they face obstacles until
they reach what they want. They might realize that their failure is not the end
of everything, as long as they have spirit to come with. One story that
reflects this value very well is “The Tortoise and The Hare”. Although the
tortoise has been mocked by the hare because of his slowness, he does not pay
attention and tries very hard to win the race. In the end of the story, he beat
the hare and takes the first winner place. Everything happened because the hare
has been underestimated him too much. Other things that can be taken from this;
people should not have been so proud of themselves.
According to a piece of 2009’s “Telegraph” a poll
of 3,000 British parents showed that a quarter of mothers today reject some
classic fairy tales because they have considered them as too ‘dark’ or ‘gloomy’
stories. For example is just like Hansel and Gretel, who were dumped by their
parents, and almost got eaten by an evil witch or Cinderella who has been
treated like a slave and forced to do all the housework. From those
stories, children will assume that not every parent will always show the
affection. Many motherless children also refused to have step-mother because
they think that their ‘new’ mother will not treat them kindly, based on
Cinderella’s story. However, the fact that fairy tales mostly considered as too
‘dark’ or ‘gloomy’ stories are not necessarily true. Although some children
assumed many bad things could happen based on the story that they have read, as
long as they still have parents or someone who can explain what is the real
goal behind it, they do not have to worry. Parents may just give children the
comprehension what does the story really imply. For instance, children who
believe that step-mother should be as cruel as in the Cinderella story still
can be neutralized. Their parents could give them clear explanation that not
every stepmother is as evil as Cinderella’s mother, because she is only a fictional
character. Then they could also tell them that Cinderella story is actually
teaching them not to lose hope and being a forgiving person. And usually,
children will believe them because they are still can be affected easily. Some parents also know that almost all fairy tales sometimes
have an exaggerate love story which is not really valuable for their children. They
draw that conclusion because they think that everything is always flowery and
happy, this does not come close to representing a real relationship. Despite of
those facts, love stories in fairy tale are actually tell children that
whenever you meet difficulties in your life, there will be a savior come to you
sooner or later. It is not always a guy, prince, or any male character, but it
can be a female character too. Let’s see Cinderella story, if you realized, the
one who actually makes Cinderella happy is her fairy godmother. If her fairy
godmother never appears on the story, Cinderella will not be able to go to the
ball, or meets the prince, or gets a pair of glass shoes. The story will be
‘flat’ if Cinderella is only doing the housework continuously. Therefore, the
fairy godmother appeared as her savior.
From
every aspect, fairy tales should be allowed to be read by or for children.
Fairy tales will help
them to face their daily problems in the real world, teaches them to struggle
until they reach their aim, and it also has many moral values to be conducted
in the real world. From these, it can be concluded that fairy tales have many
things that could affect children positively. In that case, parents should not
ban them from fairy tales.
Source:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/39039768/Are-Fairy-Tales-Good-or-Bad-for-Children
By: Nanda Rani H.
Public Argumentation
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