This article was written by Bitanya Kebede of Richard Montgomery High School
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Hansel and Gretel, The Three Billy Goats Gruff…I bet nostalgia shot through your body when hearing those book titles. Most likely, your halloween costumes, first favorite color and most-loved songs all derived from the fairy tales that constructed our childhoods. Have you ever wondered how these fairy tales came to be? Why there is a culture of reading stories to children before bedtime? Who created the first fairy tale‒ moreso, who created the concept of fairy tales in the first place? For now, we’ll disregard the famous words of Tiana from The Princess and the Frog “The only way to get what you want in this world is through hard work.", andi instead I’ll easily guide you through the answers to those questions!
Regardless of the language you speak or where you come from, everyone knows fairy tales that have been told for generations. While there is no exact date as to when fairy tales were created, the origin of many can be traced to before the 17th century. People credit the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson to the creation of famous tales, like Cinderella. However, many fairy tales are retellings of cultural fables and age-old tales with extra “spice.”
Telling children mystical tales of wondrous lands filled with kind, courageous people is a culture that many take part in. By doing this one action, multiple beneficial factors are produced. For one, good natured dispositions are encouraged. Hearing about stories where the main characters are affable with undoubtedly good morals ingrains these values into children. Even Cinderllea’s simple sentence of “Thank you. Thank you so much, for everything.” will teach kids the importance of gratitude. Regarding the academia aspect, vocabulary expansion and literary benefits are distinct when discussing the benefits of fairy tales. Children are encouraged to intotate, where they grasp the message certain words and phrases convey. Reading bedtime stories to these children augments the vocabulary they are exposed to, revealing different sentence structures and descriptive words that will be vital to their writing career.
Fairy tales are beneficial to imagination and education; the best of both worlds can be found in a short three paged story. In a time where the pull of technology is luring kids away from reading, fairy tales serve as a fun method to entrap your children into an ineffable world filled with fairies, talking animals, and more! To start your kid off on their journey of reading, I’d suggest Cinderella,Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Sleeping Beauty. All three showcase different character traits that are essential to the development of caring kids! Encourage your children to create their own stories, where the characters, plots and themes are up to them. After all, Moana does say “There's just no telling how far I'll go.”
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