Remember back to when you were little. Your parents would read you a fairy tale before you went to sleep. It was a great time. You would hear about knights, dragons, and beautiful princesses while learning good lessons. Fairy tales are fun, but do they give the wrong meaning? They depict life as perfect. Nothing bad can possibly happen. Should we be teaching our children that nothing bad happens in this world? Absolutely. Kids are different from us. They don’t know about politics; they don’t know or care what the murder rate is. Kids know one thing, and that is fun. All they care about is having a good time. Fairy tales are fun, plus they teach good morals, which is why we should continue reading them to our children.

For many generations, fairy tales have been passed down from parents to children. What was the main reason for this exchange of fictional stories? Entertainment. They are good, fun stories that make kids laugh. As I stated earlier, all kids want to do is laugh. These stories were excellent for that. The good guy wins and the bad guy loses. What is better than that? I remember the hours that I spent being read fairy tales, and even reading them myself when I was old enough. The amount of fun that I had cannot be described. This brings up another point about showing kids how much joy reading can bring. The skill of reading is a great thing for a child, but for them to enjoy it is outstanding. Smiles are brought to kids’ faces when they read fairy tales, and they are helping their brain develop by doing it.
In these classic fairy tales there is usually a lesson to be learned. In the Boy Who Cried Wolf, the boy learned his lesson that if he lied, no one would trust him. In Snow White, she learned not to take things from strangers. These two morals would teach children not to make the same mistakes as the characters. If you hadn’t read these stories, then you would have been told to do the same by your parents. But let’s think about this. Which way will you learn better: through your parents giving a list of things not to do, or by a fun story with songs, and witches, and other fun features? The choice is obvious. Most kids would rather learn by singing a song and have an interesting storyline than “here’s a list, learn and remember everything.” Fairy tales make it much easier for the majority of kids to learn a moral that they will use nearly every day in their childhood.

Stories like these can also help kids look past the obstacles in their life. By now I’m fairly certain that you have heard the common saying “life is not fair”. It’s true. Sad, but true. Fairy tales weren’t meant to tell kids that life is fair. They were created to help kids believe that they could create their own happy ending. The story of Cinderella helps this point. She is a hard working maid for her two step-sisters. Her life is terrible until she meets the handsome prince. Then her bad days are over. She marries the prince and lives happily ever after. What can be taught is that kids can create a whole new life for themselves. This story explains to kids that life may be unfair, but it can even out in your favor in the end.

Branching out on the last idea, fairy tales help children learn to forget about horrible things that happened in the past. A great story that teaches this is The Lion King. Simba is upset about his father dying and the evil Scar taking over Pride Rock. Simba flees where he meets Timon and Pumba who teach him their way of life. They call it Hakuna Matata. When I become upset over something, I honestly still think about this song. The lyrics go “It means no worries for the rest of your days”. This basically means just forget all of the bad things that happened in the past. You can’t fix it; so why not live in the present day? The story teaches kids that they shouldn’t waste their lives worrying about “what if this had happened instead”. Live in the moment and good things will come out of it. Simply, forget about the bad stuff, and as one inspiring song’s lyrics read, “This’ll help things turn out for the best. Always look on the bright side of life” (Song by Eric Idle of Monty Python).

Fairy tales help children. Plain and simple. Without them kids might not learn their morals. They would dwell on the bad part of life, and worst of all, they would miss out on the endless fun that we had of curling up by a parent, while they read you a story. We don’t want our youth to miss out on the experiences that we had. Especially considering the fact that those kids may never learn and commit to memory the main morals in life. I named a few good stories with excellent, simple lessons earlier, but try and think of more on your own. The classic fairy tales such as Cinderella are not the only ones with morals either. Think of children’s stories, or even movies for that matter. You know, they are not just for kids. I’m 16 and I am still very much entertained by “kid’s movies” like The Lion King. So, the parent watches and enjoys the movie, while the kid learns. What could possibly be better for a parent-child relationship? If you take one thing from this editorial, make it this: Fairy tales help children. End of story.