The Importance of Fairy Tales for Children

Good stories develop important mechanical aspects of language, memory, and comprehension skills, but this is only one small part of the impact reading a story has on the malleable minds of children. The reading of fairy tales is an underrated force in the development of children and establishes ethical, perceptual, and creative foundations for the reader. In this video, we explore how.
This video is based on an article that can be found here:
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[@eric2500]

I read all the fairy tale collections in the school library before I was 12, and there were lots. I loved them, even the dark and merely weird ones.

[@BoundyMan]

Even adults need fairy tales from time to time.

[@jamessalvatore7054]

Never too old to learn something new or appreciate the tranquility of a creative break from reality.

[@briancarroll1917]

Gk Chesterton’s chapter on fairy tales changed my life. To refresh ourselves of the things we see everyday in a way that makes it new again. It sparks awe and wonder within us even as adults

[@seankessel3867]

I tried so hard to explain this to my sister when she had her sons. I even bought her a beautifully illustrated anthology. Alas I highly doubt she ever cracked it open even once. She has never thought about how much of who we are comes from growing up on a heavy diet of fairy tales.

[@ML-rd6ci]

I agree, children should be protected from seeing all the evils of the world. Many modern ideas are wrong.

[@KF7LUX]

Fantastic video! And a fantastic KZbin channel! Thank you

[@ThinkingWest]

Many thanks!

[@cindymonk6994]

Great video! I just found this channel. Much catching up to do.

[@188vincent]

Beautiful video! It is so encouraging to hear you extoll the virtues of the fairy tale, with such inspiring art and music in accompaniment. Chesterton was also a great defender of Victorian Nonsense Literature such as Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll. As, an old fashioned children's book illustrator, I appreciate your tribute to children, their magical books, and their incomparable imaginations. I would love you do a video on Nonsense Literature, or maybe an old favourite of mine, the long forgotten George MacDonald,,,, whose children's and adult fairy tales inspired both CS Lewis and Tolkien. Thanks so much for video. It made my day.

[@tylerhy1332]

Beautifully done

[@whollybraille7043]

The success of Garrison Keillor testifies to the importance and wonder of story-telling. Our culture has lost that. Perpetual dopamine-hits, micro-moments of nothingness have replaced the ability to think, wonder, be permeated with all the beauty and truth that surrounds us. And to add what we can to all that, with the stories of our own lives. I read a modern version of Aesop's tale of the grasshopper and the ant, from our public library. It had been marxist-ized entirely. The grasshopper came begging at the door of the ant colony, as the fierce winter weather threatened his meaningless, stupid life. The ant welcomed him and the shared all their stock, while the grasshopper shared with them his filthy rock and roll talents for their entertainment. Sickening. But that's what the public schools are teaching the kids now.

[@hezekiahthompson6817]

If someone could please write the name of the music in the comments 🥺? Thank you 😊

[@eric2500]

Okay NO, you do not get it about folk tales, or even most fairy tales, which are a subset of folk tales. Children need the whole range of human experience and behavior in their stories, just as adults do, so they turn into well balanced people capable or dealing with life, not overprotected and therefore disappointed adults. You lost me at "keep those things out of children's stories". That's not real folklore and not real life.

[@ThinkingWest]

I'm talking about grotesque violence, vulgar language, sex scenes, etc. I'm not talking about evil concepts or even evil imagery. I'm saying fairy tales are good because they still introduce children to real life evils without showing the explicit material most rated MA/R shows and novels do.

[@denniszaychik8625]

@@ThinkingWest But those things were always present one way or another in fairytales and folklore. If for example you read the Grimms first editions then you will find plenty of material that is not suitable for children or civilized people of today for that matter.

[@philipians1635]

@@ThinkingWestthis person thought that you were promoting fairytales without evil in them. They werent worth explaining yourself to

[@philipians1635]

@@denniszaychik8625so what? He still didn’t advocate fairytales without featuring evil. Excluding gratuitously vulgar content doesn’t contradict that

[@denniszaychik8625]

@@philipians1635 I'm just telling him that the aspects that he doesn't want in fairytales were initially there from the start and this goes for all fairytale collectors/writers starting from the Grimms and going along the way with numerous others such as Basile or Hans Christian Anderson.