I was having a discussion the other day with someone about fairy tales and fantasy stories. Now I know there is very little difference between fairy tale and fantasy and maybe fantasy fanatics would want to disagree with me, however fairy and fantasy have one thing in common - they are not real.
In the discussion we were having I mentioned that I would never read fairy tales to my children. I want them to hear bible stories, saint stories, and reality stories. Now it's not that I want to take away my children's imagination and their innocence - I would rather them not grow up thinking that the phrase "And they all lived happily ever after" applies to every situation.
Let’s put it this way – Happily ever after didn’t apply to the War that was suppose to avenge the lost souls of 9/11, it surely didn't apply to the people living in the city of Kabul who have known nothing BUT misery for the past few decades; and it surely doesn't apply to my country Trinidad and Tobago that hasn't really ever recovered the "sanctioned" coup of 1990 and would be considered one of FBI's top 10 criminal cities.
But needless to say we all want our children to grow up with a balanced view of the world - the good, the bad and the ugly. It stands to reason that you don't want to tell a 5 year old that the world is a horrible place to live and Cinderella is just make-believe.
I have learned over the years that there are some fairy tales that have a hidden Christian meaning. These messages are set in a story that captures the imagination of the child and adult alike.
I grew to love Fantasy stories only as I got much older and began to understand their meaning as it applied to the world. I don’t want to underestimate children but I don’t know how many children are able to distinguish the "real" message from"the fairy" tale - in these stories that they are drowned in as children.
Would you read fairy tales to your children in the world that we live in today? Or will you read them The Gospel according to John? Which type of hope would you give them?
In the discussion we were having I mentioned that I would never read fairy tales to my children. I want them to hear bible stories, saint stories, and reality stories. Now it's not that I want to take away my children's imagination and their innocence - I would rather them not grow up thinking that the phrase "And they all lived happily ever after" applies to every situation.
Let’s put it this way – Happily ever after didn’t apply to the War that was suppose to avenge the lost souls of 9/11, it surely didn't apply to the people living in the city of Kabul who have known nothing BUT misery for the past few decades; and it surely doesn't apply to my country Trinidad and Tobago that hasn't really ever recovered the "sanctioned" coup of 1990 and would be considered one of FBI's top 10 criminal cities.
But needless to say we all want our children to grow up with a balanced view of the world - the good, the bad and the ugly. It stands to reason that you don't want to tell a 5 year old that the world is a horrible place to live and Cinderella is just make-believe.
I have learned over the years that there are some fairy tales that have a hidden Christian meaning. These messages are set in a story that captures the imagination of the child and adult alike.
I grew to love Fantasy stories only as I got much older and began to understand their meaning as it applied to the world. I don’t want to underestimate children but I don’t know how many children are able to distinguish the "real" message from"the fairy" tale - in these stories that they are drowned in as children.
Would you read fairy tales to your children in the world that we live in today? Or will you read them The Gospel according to John? Which type of hope would you give them?
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