Fairy Tales - the first step of education

Many parents believe fairy tales spoil the psyche and mind of a child, making him ridiculously imaginative and day dreamer while forgetting the harsh realities of world. But Fairy tales are the first steps towards the entire learning process of a child that makes him an individual with imaginative power, emotional existence and an adventurous soul brimming with zest of life.
 
It would be snatching the childhood pleasures of human being, if he is not exposed to the adventures of fairylands and enchanted castles. These tales are representations of our own inner landscapes, a mirror to different shades of our own psyche and emotions. How can the young soul of a child finds solace and comfort in these stories because somewhere amidst fairy tales characters he discovers himself. He start connecting his emotional values with the character, sympathizes with the week and defenceless, feels for kindness and fairness, demands an ultimate tragedy to the cruel and evil. This helps him understand his real life relations, different situations, and notions of right and wrong. 

Every Fairy tale is about the struggle of young girl or boy to search a path to ‘happily ever after’ land, this develops in child a sense that he must struggle hard to find his path to happily ever after, which triggers him to build dreams and aims to achieve happiness.


These tales are loaded with wisdom and real life philosophies that are not only for children but for all humanity. Sometimes a moment or just a little wisdom packed phrase in these tales triggers the young soul and gives it a moment of beauty or aesthetic experience that leaves an everlasting effect on his life.

Talking animals in these stories can be a metaphor of God, inculcating in child a belief and faith on God, and that he is never alone. Cinderella’s only companions were beautiful chirping birds, mice and rabbits, helping and praying for her in difficult times. It develops in child a kindness and love for nature as William Wordsworth beautifully said, ‘Nature never did betray the heart that loved her’.


Fairy tales build and strengthen the emotional power of child, these tales present the real emotions of love, courage, goodness, sorrow, happiness and revenge, there is always some powerful emotional driving force which makes certain action to happen. This makes a child to understand his own emotional appeals, makes him understand himself more clearly and gives him ability to act according to different situations and to handle different emotions.


A child feels himself as the king of the entire universe, where he is not bounded by the laws of society, time and place. Fairylands go parallel to his imagination. Those faraway lands to happiness and magic, huge dreamy castles, the magic of goodness, the magic mirror of evil witch, builds a strong imaginative power in child. According to Albert Einstein, “imagination is more important than knowledge”. Imagination is the working of an active mind and further develops the intellect of a child. So it is time that we should reconsider the powerful effect of fairy tales on the mind, soul and emotions of child.

Enchanted old castles, songs of the fairies, wisdom of the old grannies and evil spells powerful witches is the earliest form of education that rests in child’s mind for the rest of his life and it would be a tragedy if we snatch this education from that little innocent being.