We reached a new milestone, yay! I get to read my little guy actual stories that have more words than pictures on a page. Story time is a chance to expand his horizons and vocabulary. I thought timeless classics were the way to go. Of course our collection has some of my childhood favorites, The Giving Tree and Where the Wild Things Are. But I thought fairy tales would be a definite must, until I read them to my son. How are these timeless classics, seriously?? I find myself having to improvise quite a bit, switching out words and elements of the story to make them more suitable for a child. But regardless, the story lines still are pretty amoral. One of the only ones with a moral that I like is The Boy Who Cried Wolf because I can talk to my son about the importance of telling the truth. Although I make sure that the wolf scared off all the sheep as opposed to massacring them. Other than that one and maybe a couple of others, I can't really find many redeeming qualities about them. What do you think?
Goldilocks and the Three Bears: This lovely story teaches children about trespassing (at least it's not breaking and entering I guess), eating food that they find, destroying someone else's personal property, and sleeping in strangers' beds.
Jack and the Beanstalk: Believing swindlers, lying, repeated theft, taking advantage of a stranger's kindness, and ultimately murder will lead to your very own "happily ever after!"
The Princess and the Pea: Labels are everything.
Puss in Boots: Lying, impersonating, trickery and ultimately murder will lead to success!
Rumplestiltskin: Children are great bargaining pieces and if you succeed at the impossible, you get to marry someone you just met.
Rapunzel: Theft is okay if it's for a pregnant woman, and again, children are great bargaining pieces.
The Hare and the Hedgehog: Trickery and lying is fine if the person your tricking or lying to has a big ego.
The Twelve Dancing Princesses: Magical trickery is the only way to get ahead and daughters are to be given away as prizes without their consent.
The Little Mermaid: Just depressing on all fronts.
Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Frog Prince, The Ugly Duckling (and quite a few others) Looks are EVERYTHING!
Why are these timeless classics? What do you read to your little ones?
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