[cmkristy]

Trespassing, kidnapping, extortion — sounds like a meaty “Law and Order” episode, right?

Maybe, but I’m talking about fairy tales: “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Rumplestiltskin,” respectively. My older daughter is a high school freshman, but she still remembers being frightened by that granny-gobbling, Red-baiting wolf in the “Hood.”

Apparently, she’s not alone. The BBC reports that half of 2,000 parents surveyed thought classic fairy tales were too scary for preschoolers. After all, they don’t call ‘em Grimm for nothing. Moms seem to be particularly expendable, with Snow White and Cinderella among the best-known motherless daughters.

Parents think classic fairy tales are too scary for kids- http://moms.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/16/10419753-survey-parents-think-classic-fairy-tales-a...

My kiddos and I read a ton of books together but I've never thought about this!  However, I do remember being scared while  listening/reading Hansel & Gretel when I was a child.  How do you feel about classic fairytales? Do you read them to your kiddos?  Do you remember being scared by any fairytales when you were a child?

[cmkristy]

Trespassing, kidnapping, extortion — sounds like a meaty “Law and Order” episode, right?

Maybe, but I’m talking about fairy tales: “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Rumplestiltskin,” respectively. My older daughter is a high school freshman, but she still remembers being frightened by that granny-gobbling, Red-baiting wolf in the “Hood.”

Apparently, she’s not alone. The BBC reports that half of 2,000 parents surveyed thought classic fairy tales were too scary for preschoolers. After all, they don’t call ‘em Grimm for nothing. Moms seem to be particularly expendable, with Snow White and Cinderella among the best-known motherless daughters.

Parents think classic fairy tales are too scary for kids- http://moms.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/16/10419753-survey-parents-think-classic-fairy-tales-a...

My kiddos and I read a ton of books together but I've never thought about this!  However, I do remember being scared while  listening/reading Hansel & Gretel when I was a child.  How do you feel about classic fairytales? Do you read them to your kiddos?  Do you remember being scared by any fairytales when you were a child?

[crunchymamamaine]

We are leery of them. My son at 4 is really impressionable, and I was horrified at the brutality of some of the tales in kids' books. We were really really happy with one particular telling of a classic fairy tale, after being unable to keep watching the Disney version because it scared my kids too much, and that was Jan Brett's version of "Beauty and the Beast", and it was WONDERFUL. I choked up reading it, and instead of the message being that by loving a bad man you can make him good, the message that people shouldn't judge by appearances, but rather, what's in the heart, was what came through. Excellent book, and the illustrations are such as only Jan Brett can do. Nuff said.
I think fairy tales were conceived to entertain and thrill adult audiences, because people gathered in groups, including kids, to hear the tales the bards told around the fire...later on they were meant to scare kids out of dangerous behavior or disobedience. Definitely weren't intended to comfort a kid to sleep!