Once upon a time, a girl was waiting for her prince charming. Her prince charming arrived on a horse, fell in love, got married, and lived happily ever after…
As children, we were introduced to fairy tales and stories by our parents, teachers, or animated films on television.
Today, many schools forbid parents from telling their children fairy tales or fictional stories at bedtime or even otherwise. Schools want children to listen to real inspirational stories. “Children cannot comprehend what they can’t see, for example, a fairy or a monster. Children often tend to get scared by these fictitious characters. Tales like The Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, and Hansel and Gretel, depict a lot of cruelty; the girls are helpless and need to be helped by some males. People are shown as either black or white. Such stories make children judgmental. They start relating to one of the characters from the story and experience fear or anger,” said Beena Parekh, principal of Harmony Montessori.
To avoid such thoughts in the minds of the children, Parekh said the focus has shifted to reality-based stories. “Children love real stories. They can imagine it happening to them and learn a lot by listening to them. Simple stories like a boy and a girl going to a park, real-life biographies, etc. Around 50 per cent of parents understand our point of view and support us. Many parents don’t support this point of view. Parents get carried away by fancy movies or stories for their children’s bedtime. We are trying our best to spread the message.”
Parekh further explained that fantasy stories cannot ignite positive imagination. “Imagination is needed to understand reality, like how the earth rotates and revolves. How do people in cold places dress up? How the solar system works, how the rain cycle works, and so on. How can the imagination of a fairy coming to rescue help?”
However, Ketki Sohoni, co-founder of Asymmetrical.ai, an Ed-tech company that collaborates with schools to encourage kids to read and write more effectively, made another point. “Fantasy fiction is a vast topic; it covers everything from superheroes to fairy tales to mythology. When we tell kids that they should dream big in life, we are essentially asking them to imagine a future beyond their current realities. Kids are naturally imaginative and curious. A simple straw in a kid’s hand can be a sword or a bubble maker, but the minute we tell them it is for drinking, they will use it for just that,” she mentioned.
Taking the point ahead, she added, “At a young age, we should not restrict them to reading only one genre. As children grow older, they start understanding the difference between fiction and reality and can decide their preferences. Kids’ understanding of the world should be shaped by their own experiences, not by what we believe is right or wrong. It is our job to show them as many perspectives as possible to stimulate their imagination. For that, they should be exposed to all types of books, from the real world to fiction.”
But, at the end of the day, it is parents who play a crucial role in what their children read. Tanya Mascarenhas Shah, a mother to a three-an-a-half-year-old boy, revealed, “Each parent knows the maturity level of their child. Under the age of five, it’s always best that they are introduced to reality-based stories because it helps them stay grounded and understand certain situations. After five years of age, they enjoy fiction stories as they can appreciate creative ideas, and it helps them imagine more possibilities. My child enjoys real stories that give a lot of information and knowledge,” she concluded.
