Friday, September 5, 2014

Fairy Tales....Magical tales to grow on



Today we have our resident guest-blogger with us on Storywraps.  Hi Natalie....the space is yours....




Fairy Tales in Life

So I was chatting to my Dad, asking him for some inspiration about what to write a blog post and, true to form, he comes out with the last thing I expected. “Fairy Tales” he says. What?? I think - a blog about fairy tales, what’s the point in that? “People underestimate the importance of Fairy Tales in today’s modern society” Dad continues. So I sat, and I thought, and I figured that, much as I dislike to admit it, once again my Dad is right.

When looking for a book to read my child, I don’t tend to go for traditional fairy stories that I read as a kid. I’m not sure why not, as I used to love tales about witches and frogs turning into princes etc, but I go for the modern books…like Zog and a Pirates Underpants. So I’ve vowed to change and start reading some of the old stuff too. Stories like Little Red Riding Hood (stranger danger), stories where the frog turns into a prince (don’t judge people by what you can see on the outside), stories where the nice people get rewarded (cinderalla) and the mean people get punished (can’t remember the one that sticks in my brain but it had the girl who was nice to the old lady getting fancy dresses and her mean sister getting coal - or something similar.) And why are these important? As you can see from the brackets, a lot of the older, more traditional tales, had morals behind them that some (but not all) modern books may lack. And they were well told, beautifully written and - although I can’t remember the names and probably mix up many of the tales - they have stayed with me for over 20 years - so they must have been worth reading!!

So tonight, instead of reading about Robot Heroes, I started reading one of the Narnia books to my son. He fell asleep after 3-4 pages, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!! lol

And, I guess, that’s the point. The writing may be in a style not commonly seen nowadays, and some of the words are different to what we’d use in modern communication (but that’s okay, innit??) However, the stories are still wonderful stories and the morals are still valid, so don’t forget the importance of the old while seeking out the new and, if looking for a new tale to tell, maybe revisit your favourites from childhood - you’ll probably enjoy the journey just as much as your child!!

Have a wonderful day everyone.  Read on and read always!

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