Parents Say Classic Fairy Tales Are Too Scary To Read To Kids (STUDY)

It's no secret that classic fairy tales aren't the bright and happy stories Disney would have you believe. (The way the Brothers Grimm tell Cinderella, one of her stepsisters resorts to cutting off her own toe to fit into Ella's dainty glass slippers.) Now, rather than skipping over the bleaker elements at bedtime -- or just hoping kids can handle rather dark ideas -- parents are chucking fairy tales altogether, says a new study conducted by British TV channel, Watch.

The Daily Mail reports that some of the books most commonly left on the shelves include Rumpelstiltskin and Rapunzel because kidnapping is the centerpiece of their storylines. And, Little Red Riding Hood -- that Big Bad Wolf is too gruesome when he gobbles up Red's grandma. A staggering one-third of parents reported that their children were actually brought to tears by the scene.

This year's rash of television series and movies riffing on fairy tales further supports them being more grown-up than kid-friendly. The police procedural drama "Grimm," which premiered this season on NBC, centers each of its eerie episodes on a different Brothers Grimm story, and last year's PG-13 "Red Riding Hood" brought a similarly dark tone to the big screen. This spring's "Snow White and the Huntsman" and "Mirror, Mirror," also seem to be geared toward more adult audiences.

"There has been a move toward seeing fairy tales as an adult, or at any rate, a young adult dark sort of genre," children's author Diane Purkiss told the BBC. "In the past, fairy tales were told by adults to adults, in William Shakespeare's time. It's only in the Victorian era that they've become moral children's tales and it looks like we're going back to the inception of fairy stories now with a more adult take on them."

Yet, as The Telegraph reported, parents aren't turning down fairy tales just because they're "scary." Over 50 percent of parents surveyed said that they didn't read their kids Cinderella because the heroine spends her days doing housework. Many felt that this theme of female domesticity didn't send a good message. HuffPost blogger Amy Fox recently wrote about a Cinderella book that she wishes didn't exist at all.

Other parents felt that many fairy tales simply brought up questions that they weren't prepared to answer. Steve Hornsey, General Manager of Watch told The Telegraph: "As adults we can see the innocence in fairytales, but a five year old with an overactive imagination could take things too literally."

So how do you feel about classic fairy tales? Which stories do you feel comfortable reading to your kids -- and which would you rather they didn't hear until they were older? Tell us in the comments!

LOOK: 10 Fairy Tales Parents Aren't Reading To Kids

Comments

[Mike McCandless]

04:43 PM on 02/26/2013

Fairy tales used to be used to teach children lessons. Now they are all happy endings. If you think fairy tales are too scary, read this article for some other tips. http://parentbucket.com/fairy-tale-day-a-great-time-to-tell-your-kids-a-story/

[BarkingPlanet]

01:31 PM on 02/21/2013

Fascinating...I quoted excerpts in our latest blog: http://barkingplanet.typepad.com...the brothers Grimm were often cruel, violent and dare I say it...Grim.

Thank you Emma Gray
Robert McCarty

[fifiwereking]

07:20 PM on 04/02/2012

how quickly we forget! kids LOVE to be scared, as long as they know that they, in fact, are safe.... and since most of the children in these stories who meet with misfortune do so because they are blithely dealing with a stranger, these stories are also good cautionary tales....

[Cormarbla]

10:49 AM on 03/04/2012

Really?! Seriously?! I read all types of stories to my children when they were young, they are now 27 & 24 yrs old. Neither of my children were mollycoddled about the facts of life or the world around them. The problem with most of these parents these days is that their children are the center of their universe, and that is not good. They allow their children to dictate everything to them, and I mean everything! Children are alot smarter then most adults give them credit for I mean after all what are children anyway? They are little human adults, children know the difference between real and make believe. Too many parents project their thoughts, ideas, beliefs, fears,phobias, etc. onto their children, this society is breeding and raising a bunch of over medicated, under active, phobic, paranoid bunch of alarmists instead of grooming them to become decent productive future members of society.

[Michaela19801]

08:17 AM on 03/04/2012

The hardest stories to explain to my kids are Biblical.

When we still attended Catholic services, we tried to explain that church was God's House.

First time we took the kids to church, the whole service they kept asking where he was. When they saw the priest.. "Is that him?" No that's not him.

The next week when we were getting ready, one of my daughters asked if "HE" was gonna be there this time. :-)

[Michaela19801]

08:07 AM on 03/04/2012

Wow I read all of the stories to my kids. Kids need to learn there isn't always a happy ending.

My girls LOVE Cinderella and Snow White. No dwarfs because they are not politically correct? How about teaching them diversity ?

[shortguy54]

09:19 AM on 03/01/2012

I don't remember ever being scared by a fairey-tale. But I did cry my eyes out every time by father read the old English nursery rhyme "Poor Babes in the Woods" to me (It's about two children who are kidnapped, abandoned and then die). Each and every time. It was my favorite!
So just lighten up, will you?

[DevinMarilyn]

10:11 PM on 02/28/2012

ohh get over it. those stories are about the dangers of talking to strangers and running off by yourself without adult supervision.
the world isn't always a fluffy happy place it can be dangerous too, kids need to know that there are bad guys, in story books and in real life.

[NunyaBus99]

07:13 PM on 02/27/2012

So I wonder how many of these parents that think these fairy tales are too scary (was not am issue when i grew up) think it is ok to read the bible to their kids?

Growing up my grandmother use to tell us stories of Gimpel Beinish (spelling is probably off, it's been 36 years) that were like these fairy tales, were scary as heck, but all had a lesson to them.

[Dave2129]

09:09 AM on 02/26/2012

According to Bruno Bettelheim, author of "The Uses of Enchantment," the old, gory fairytales prepare children -- in a subconscious, Freudian non-threatening easy to understand way. -- about life.

[Parade Keegan]

04:00 AM on 02/26/2012

I think the childhood fairy tales are great and these stories teach children about some of the dangers in societies in an entertaining and engaging maner. To this day I still remember Red Riding Hood scaring the c**p out of me... and making me a little more cautious because not all surprises are pleasant.

[halcottgirl368]

06:18 PM on 02/25/2012

What is wrong with these people. I am sure that they were read these fairy tales. I read ALL the fairy tales to my kids & they are 110% just fine. You tell them that these are NOT true stories, they are for fun, to read for entertainment. And the comment I read saying that they wished there was never a Cinderella because of all the domestic things she did, that was just one of my favorite growing up, & my daughter loved it, I read it over & over. The problem with adults these days is that they let their kids run ALL OVER them, these kids don't even know what RESPECT is. Let them read fairy tales, just like adults, they need escape from reality. There is so much pressure from parents, teachers & other kids. Most of the adults who won't let them these awful stories, they are probably letting them play video games, that are worse than the fairy tales. My kids read them, there was no video games when they were kids, except PacMan, Donkey Kong, etc. Plus they played outside, they rode bikes, played sports, & even cowboys & indians, yes even with toy guns!!!!! They turned out great.

[Sybil Shearin]

01:15 AM on 02/26/2012

Hi! I don't think people today have enjoyed the childhood that some of us have. I am the author of Childrenstorytales.com which is a website for children stories. I have tried to include many things I enjoyed as a child and hope other children today will as well. I feel children need to put down the video games and listen or read a good story. My stories are entertaining but they teach the children valuable lessons as well that will go with them for centuries. I encourage all parents to relax and allow children to be children. God bless all the readers and the writers who work so hard to give back something good to the children. S. Shearin

[Ty2010]

05:37 PM on 02/25/2012

There needs to be a middle ground between inspiring bloodlust or nihilism and having children that have been so sheltered that they need therapy after losing their first goldfish at age 22.

[Katiekit]

03:51 PM on 02/25/2012

I can't believe this. People are such wussies. That's why they are called fairy tales. They are tales. When I was little my favorite was Hanzel & Gretel. I wasn't scared because I knew it wasn't real. Read your kids scary 'fairy tales' and let them drink soda and eat potato chips. Stop taking all the fun out of life. And let the kids play dodge ball. What kind of a nation are we becoming? It's getting insane. Parents need to get out of counseling, off the anti-depression drugs and get real.

[Sigrid Wyly]

04:09 PM on 02/25/2012

Well said. We're protecting our kids to death and giving them little opportunity to face the real world. They're in for some terrible shocks when they find out that everybody doesn't win.

[mrsbennett516]

03:46 PM on 02/25/2012

I am SO glad I am not the only one who agrees that this is a bunch of hooey. Give me a break.