by Alix Tonsgard
In present day when you mention fairy tales most people will automatically think of Frozen, or the like, and will equate young children’s draw to these stories to the power ballads, sparkly dresses, and heroic acts of dragon slaying and such. When in actuality it runs much deeper.
The developmental purpose of these stories varies according by age and can be highly dependent upon what an individual child is dealing with in their life. For this reason, children often want to hear the same tales again and again throughout different periods of their lives. Very generally speaking, I feel that most young children (2-3 years) are dealing with basic fears. I always had a few little ones in my class when I taught this age that loved stories that were simple, had a scary element, and a child who found the courage to save the day. As children age, the internal struggles become more complex.
In telling, listening to, and reading stories, children have the opportunity to cross back and forth between fantasy and reality. A theme that is consistent in all fairy tales is that we all will inevitably struggle with things that are hard in life, but if you meet hardships head on and master obstacles, then in the end you will be victorious. Childhood is the time to learn to bridge the immense gap between your internal struggles and the real world, and in these stories are messages about human experiences and how to deal with basic human predicaments. In this sense it can be said that fairy tales help children to project, thereby fostering their development because they give children opportunities to understand their inner conflicts, act them out, and resolve them in their imaginations.
The games that children create are in essence a story that they are writing along the way. When children become engrossed in fairy tales, they have opportunities to try out different roles, such as the evil stepsisters in Cinderella. Understanding others and the choices they make is also an important part of understanding yourself, and this is why the moral component of fairy tales is significant. In this sense, fairy tales can be thought of teaching critical thinking as they make visible the consequences of characters decisions, demonstrating to the child that what happens to you can depend on the choices you make.
For a more in-depth look at the importance of fairy tales, check out my blog at dupagchildrens.org/blog.
Alix Tonsgard is an early learning specialist at the DuPage Children’s Museum.
