At the Telegraph: Fairytales too scary for modern children, say parents.
On the one hand, I want to say, "Well, DUH. Yes. Fairytales are scary. Where have you all been?"
But on the other, I feel that some of the complaints are totally ridiculous. Like, parents don't like 'Jack and the Beanstalk' because it's "too unrealistic"? How do they feel about, like, all other fantasy stories?
Regardless, must have been a slow news day, as the whole article is basically a veiled plug for the British debut of Grimm.
As a kid I loved almost all of these. I was easily scared but I wasn't so easily scared that I couldn't hear Hansel and Gretel, or better yet, the tales of Baba Yaga....I don't understand what's with people today.
Posted by: ProfessorMortis | 16 February 2012 at 08:45 AM
Baba Yaga! YES. Loved those stories as well.
I should see if there are any postage stamps...
Posted by: Leila | 16 February 2012 at 09:33 AM
I wonder, have they heard of Der Struwwelpeter? I grew up on that, and that's as scary as some fairy tales. It has lessons like: "Don't suck your thumbs, or someone will come and CUT THEM OFF."
I wonder, is it so bad for kids to find things scary or upsetting?
Posted by: LG | 16 February 2012 at 09:39 AM
I'm pretty sure that Der Struwwelpeter would make these parents run away screaming.
Posted by: Leila | 16 February 2012 at 09:40 AM
I've never understood fairytales being "too scary" for kids. Fairytales reflect the world in which they developed, like ghost stories, so how can that be too scary? I LOVED them as a child (and still do as an adult)! Of course, I also loved the movie 'Return to Oz' where there's a witch who steals women’s' heads and switches hers out to change her appearance...
Isn't part of the joy of being scared that you have to learn to work through your fear?
Posted by: Rebecca | 16 February 2012 at 01:54 PM
It's funny, I remembered something similar earlier today -- apparently, I was terrified of Captain Hook (the Disney version) as a small child. The second my mother or father (whoever was reading with me) would turn the page, I'd slam my hand down on the picture to cover him up.
And yet, I regularly asked for the book anyway. So there you are. There must have been something enjoyable about the fear, right? (Then again, as an adult I love horror movies, so maybe I'm just predisposed to like the "safely scared" thing. I dunno.)
Posted by: Leila | 16 February 2012 at 02:03 PM
Does anyone else find it mildly amusing that the part parents didn't like about Cinderella was the fact that she did housework. If you were going to get all angsty about that story I would have thought there were far worse things to be concerned about.
Posted by: MelissaT | 16 February 2012 at 02:36 PM
Like the stepsisters cutting their toes off to fit into the shoe? Or the crows pecking their eyes out at the end? Those parts are SWEET!
Posted by: Leila | 16 February 2012 at 02:38 PM
I think that's why I loved fairy tales-they scared the pants off me! That's still why I love them. They are creepy and awesome. Which is not to say I didn't also enjoy the less scary versions that were around, but the scary ones were the coolest.
Posted by: Meredith | 16 February 2012 at 03:08 PM
I've been a preschool teacher for 10 years. Every year we read Miss Nelson is Missing. This year was the first year I've ever had a problem. I had THREE parents call me because their children were frightened by Viola Swamp.
I weep for humanity.
Posted by: Jennifer in GA | 16 February 2012 at 06:20 PM
To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, children need fairy tales not because they will learn that dragons are real, but because they will learn that dragons can be killed. Even when we're really small we *know* that the monsters are out there.
(Jennifer, I've been having a weep-for-humanity kind of week myself, but nothing to top your story. Good grief.)
Posted by: CC | 17 February 2012 at 10:19 AM
*banging head against wall*
Posted by: Chrissy | 17 February 2012 at 11:37 AM
This constitutes as news?
Posted by: Ruby | 17 February 2012 at 12:11 PM
Heh. When my kids were little I'd ask up front which version they wanted to hear at bedtime; for example, in The Three Little Pigs, do the dumb pigs run to safety or does the wolf eat them up before ending up as wolf stew for the brickbuilding pig? Sometimes they'd opt for modern sanitized version, and sometimes they wanted every detail I could remember of the traditional stories...
You know, the parents worried about the depiction of women in Cinderella could just make her a boy. Cinder Elliott
Posted by: Beth | 17 February 2012 at 12:16 PM
Every kid loved Miss Nelson is Missing when we were in grade school....how that could disturb kids...ugh.
Posted by: ProfessorMortis | 21 February 2012 at 09:02 PM