OT--Fairy tale books

[Dustybug]

I've seen in posts here and other places that some are uncomfortable with reading their children fairy tale books. I'm just curious as to the reasoning behind this? I'm not attacking anyone, I am just very curious. I've always just taken the approach that I will never insinuate those things are "real" when reading them to my children, so I don't (personally) see them as a problem.

[Dustybug]

No one?

Oh well. I guess my curiosity killed the cat. lol

[pollo_la]

I am curious to hear what others have to say to.

As for me, I do read them to my kids. I have very fond memories of fairy tales from my childhood. I must admit that I think the ones I'm reading to my dd are "watered down" though... definitely not super scary.

[tiffanieh]

I could be mistaken but I don't believe it was the fairytell persay they had issue with...it was animals taking on human voices and speaking. Putting animals on the same playing field as God's creation of man (in His image).

I "think" that's what it was...but again...I could be wrong!

[spidermansmum]

I havent banned all fairy tales.I have a gripe with a few-so I can not speak for anyone else.
I have a very literal little boy -who takes thinks very deeply.I know he struggles with many 'classic' books-Laura Ingalls Wilder -house in the woods-was one we ended up editing so much of -we gave up reading it.So the Elves and the shoemaker -I have no problem with.Little red riding hood I have some problems with.Hansel and Gretel -No way.Goldilocks and the three bears is okay .

[Jessi]

I personally don't have a problem at all with Fairy Tales..most of which I read watered-down but not all. I have never had an issue with talking animals so those kinds of books aren't banned in my house. However, I definitely want the bulk of their readings to be wonderful quality literature and fairy tales don't fit that bill to me. Again, that's my take on it...I don't impose that on anyone else.

[Daisy]

We are selective. We don't have a problem with talking animals as we have explained to our children that this is just a literary device.

We are more selective when it comes to magic and violence. We prefer the Andrew Lang fairy tales for their literary value but find that we have to filter because some of them can be quite graphic. I'm not sure I can even explain the issue with magic because it's sooo subjective. We are okay with Walt Disney bippity boppity boo type magic (clearly within the range of make-believe) but not magic that leaves you with the heebie jeebies. Does that make sense?

And even greater than magic or violence are fairy tales or legends, mythology, or cultural stories that fall into the realm of false religions. Some cultural fairy tales integrate too much religious philosophy. For example, we ran into trouble with "Just So Stories." Some were funny and obviously fairy tale like. Some we wound up skipping.