Fairytales too scary for modern children, say parents
Research revealed one in five parents has scrapped old classics such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Rapunzel in favour of more modern books.
One third of parents said their children have been left in tears after hearing the gruesome details of Little Red Riding Hood.
And nearly half of mothers and fathers refuse to read Rumplestiltskin to their kids as the themes of the story are kidnapping and execution.
Similarly, Goldilocks and the Three Bears was also a tale likely to be left on the book shelf as parents felt it condones stealing.
The survey of 2,000 adults was commissioned to mark the launch of the hit US drama GRIMM, which starts tonight at 9pm on Watch, and sees six gritty episodes based on traditional fairytales.
The poll found a quarter of parents polled wouldn't consider reading a fairytale to their child until they had reached the age of five, as they prompt too many awkward questions from their offspring.
And 52 per cent of the parents said Cinderella didn't send a good message to their children as it portrays a young woman doing housework all day.
Steve Hornsey, General Manager, Watch, said: ''Bedtime stories are supposed to soothe children and send them off to sleep soundly.
''But as we see in GRIMM, fairytales can be dark and dramatic tales so it's understandable that parents worry about reading them to young children.''
''As adults we can see the innocence in fairytales, but a five year old with an over active imagination could take things too literally.
''Despite the dark nature of classic fairytales, as we see in GRIMM, good will triumph over evil and there is always a moral to the story.''
When it comes to bedtime reading, over a third of parents don't like to tell their children about 'The Gingerbread Man' as he gets eaten by a fox.
And 'Queen Bee' features a character called 'Simpleton,' which 35 per cent of mums and dads deemed unsuitable.
The study also found two thirds of mums and dads try to avoid stories which might give their children nightmares.
However half of parents said traditional tales are more likely to have a strong moral message than a lot of modern kids' books, such as The Gruffalo, The Hungary Caterpillar and the Mr Men books.
TOP TEN FAIRYTALES NO LONGER READ TO CHILDREN
1. Hansel and Gretel - Details two kids abandoned in the forest and likely to scare young children
2. Jack and the Beanstalk - Deemed too 'unrealistic'.
3. Gingerbread Man - Would be uncomfortable explaining gingerbread man gets eaten by a fox
4. Little Red Riding Hood - Deemed unsuitable by parents who have to explain a young girl's grandmother has been eaten by a wolf.
5. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves - the term dwarves was found to be inappropriate
6. Cinderella - Story about a young girl doing all the housework was outdated.
7.Rapunzel - Parents were worried about the focus on a young girl being kidnapped.
8.Rumplestiltskin - Wouldn't be happy reading about executions and kidnapping
9.Goldilocks and the Three Bears - Sends the wrong messages about stealing
10.Queen Bee - Inappropriate as the story has a character called Simpleton ENDS
This blows my mind LOL
I still read them to my girls. They are macabre kids and find them funny. Plus THEY ARE STORIES. If you think Goldilocks promotes stealing then you fail as a parent. Just saying.
My children have heard all those stories and it didn't bother them in the least. They are fairytales, tell the kids that they are just stories and not real. It's very simple.
Gosh...I must be a terrible parent then. My kids love those stories, just like they love Dr. Seuss.
If you read some of the original fairy tales, some of them are pretty dark and twisted! I actually remember liking those ones as a child- I was a little bit morbid! LOL! In general my kids prefered more 'modern' books. However, we did do fairy tales as well. My 5 year old recently got a book of fairy tales for her b-day, and we read them all. She did ask me a couple of days later if I would ever leave them in the woods like in Hansel and Gretal! While we were reading them, the only one she didn't like was The Pied Piper, and it was because she didn't like all the rats being drowned in the river. She was fine with the Pied Piper taking all the kids, but she didn't like the rats being killed!
Why do so many parents today feel like the need to shelter their kids like this? It just seems like they are taking so much away from them. I mean the world isn't all butterflies and sunshine so the fairy tails shouldn't need to be either. Plus if I recall ALL of these stories have happy endings.
Yeah. If those parents think the typical fairy tales we read now are bad then they should read the original ones. They have rape in those.
Quoting Freela:If you read some of the original fairy tales, some of them are pretty dark and twisted! I actually remember liking those ones as a child- I was a little bit morbid! LOL! In general my kids prefered more 'modern' books. However, we did do fairy tales as well. My 5 year old recently got a book of fairy tales for her b-day, and we read them all. She did ask me a couple of days later if I would ever leave them in the woods like in Hansel and Gretal! While we were reading them, the only one she didn't like was The Pied Piper, and it was because she didn't like all the rats being drowned in the river. She was fine with the Pied Piper taking all the kids, but she didn't like the rats being killed!
What is your greatest accomplishment? UPDATE
- momdoes
on Feb. 15, 2012 at 7:50 AM