Traditional bedtime stories for kids: are they too dark and non-PC?

I had this disagreement with my husband who didn´t like the idea of introducing some of the more unpleasant concepts explored in trad tales. I managed to convince him using the work of, I think, Bettelheim, who believes that far from frightening children they are ideal ways of introducing difficult concepts like death, danger etc in a way that isn´t too close to the child´s own reality but allows them to ask questions about these things.
It is also part of their cultural capital and it is a disadvantage to them not to be aware of the ´folk tales´ of their European culture.

I have read all the trad tales to my daughter and haven´t noticed her having nightmares, although she´s a ´sensitive soul´.

As for "political correctness", I think kids see through that pretty quickly :)

snow non-ethnic minority and the seven persons with altitude issues.

What a load of crap. Times change, and a lot of Enid Blyton and presumably other authors of that era wrote stuff that these days would be considered unacceptable as they were racist/sexist/other-ist.

These stories/TV programmes/Films should be left ´as is´, and if kids are old enough it can be explained why that sort of thing is not acceptable and used as an educational point.

I´m currently reading ´Live and Let Die´, the 2nd James Bond novel by Ian Fleming. The chapter I read last night is entitled ´Nigger´s Heaven´, which presumably these days would not pass an editor, but it was written in the 1950s. I don´t believe that anyone who reads this book will become racist by reading it, I´m certainly not about to change my attitudes, but if one of my kids reads the book in a few years (my 9 year old is currently reading the Young Bond novels by Charlie Higson and so he may well do in a few years) I´ll be able to use the title to explain something about the attitudes of the day.

When it comes to historical literature of any sort, leave it as it is.

Hi wrighty

Platform has an automatic word filter so, unfortunately, we´re not able filter out words depending on the post or the person; it´s all or nothing I´m afraid. No doubt this is something we´ll add to our "need to improve" list. Thanks for posting.

Robyn (Platform team)

I have 4 children and have and still do regularly read fairy tales...I am also one of the terrible mothers who still sings baa baa black sheep....

I am convinced that it is often this silly PC world we live in that encourages our children to be racist and sexist... For instance in our local catholic school we suddenly had three hindu children join the school... being a rural area it is mainly white child school... These children were not seen any different by their peers.. however come Christmas the whole nativity ´catholic´ Christmas celebrations were changed because as the head said, we have to now include.. non catholic non white children... The school as a whole was upset, and the families who had joined our school were mortified and very embarrassed.... the parents were left with the job of how to explain that the much loved traditional parts were being changed because of the new children... who for the first time were seen as something different!!

baa baa woolley sheep doesn´t do it for me.... and my many black friends who refer to themselves as black, and in no way resemble wooly sheep, still sing baa baa black sheep too....

Why can´t these beurocrats see the damage they are doing?

I feel fairy tales are be steeped in antiquity and some what ritualism.

As such, the context of the tale can carry anonymous meanings or outcomes, in regards to the process of interaction.

Language itself, can structure what we see and how we interpret experiences. Although, to gage such processes we may need to apply a contemporary approach. (Looking at the time line such tales where produced in and what such tales symbolise. As well as the designs they create within the minds of our children). Recognising, that when combined with other societal processes or changes, the results of the past and present may differ.

… I don’t believe we should stop telling our children fairy tales, but rather think about why & what we tell our children and what the outcomes of what we say and do may produce, in the context of the foundations we create, for which our children grow and build upon.

my little granddaughter is just over 2 and loves "the night garden" She also has some of the toys, e,g, iggle piggle and upsey daisy. We recently heard that there had been a complaint because the upsey daisy doll is not a dark as the TV version!!! Is it me or are some people really sad?

I hate in the night garden! I wish the big bad wolf would break in and eat up the lot of them! My 3 year old is learning the story of Goldie Locks in nursery and she really enjoys it. They also taught her Bahh bahh black sheep. I don´t know where these over the top politically correct schools are, but I´m glad she´s not in one.

When I read this original news article my initial thoughts were that the PC police were at it again. How are our children meant to develop their imaginations, word power and learn about the "realities" life can throw at them if they are continually wrapped in virtual cotton wool? My offspring are now into their early 20s and were raised on all the traditional nursery rhymes/tales and absolutely squeeled with delight at Roald Dahl´s Revolting Rhymes (not recently I hasten to add!!). Both girls have done exceptionally well at school and university and are now onto their respective Masters degrees. I believe that children should have access to balanced material suitable to their age group and when they question certain attitudes and beliefs this can stimulate debate, again as befitting their ages. When is this country going to finally banish the ´nanny state´ and instead of telling young parents what not to do, offer teenagers practical advice and parenting skills before they embark on this path. After all, we equip our children well with the skills for the workplace but seem to overlook the most important job of all. How many new parents have been overwhelmed with the seemingly insurmountable task of dealing with a new baby, I know my husband and I certainly were. So I vote to get rid of the PC brigade and foster the common sense approach. And I have just realised I am on my soap box :)

Robyn: The correct solution is to automatically censor nothing. Compare to a brick uni, where socialising students are not required to hand over their words to a speaker who may choose to arbitrarily remove words before uttering the speech on behalf of the author.

A short while ago there was some furore over the image of the "golliwog" - I may be sheltered, but before 2009 I´ve associated the gollywog only with redcurrant jelly and dolls. I´d heard it being used insultingly, but I saw it in the same way I´ve been called "greasy" for my Spanish heritage - it was the context that made it an insult (not one I took seriously either, but that´s by the bye), while grease remained just grease. Meanwhile, the last play I watched was based on an Agatha Christie book I can´t name either. Well, OK, her estate approved a different title, but - especially in the light of Christie´s adaptation for stage giving Lombard innocence - the new title misses a twist in the original.

To generalise, the primary fallacy of political correctness is to ignore context, using absurd chains of reasoning to identify malicious intent and resultant harm. What child has read Snow White and remarked "mother, must one have the whitest skin to be pure and wholesome?" or fallen asleep to Cinderella and muttered "daddy, Cinders was forced to do the housework because she was a girl, right?" Of course a minority of children (and adults) will ask this, and the good parent will then explain cultural context, justify modern practice, and (in the now vanishingly unlikely case that anyone not a self-appointed member of the Pc Police would miss this) explain that the choice was incidental and not central to the story. The worst thing possible would be to deny a child (or adult) the opportunity to ask the question and consider the response.

hi i have 5 children ranging from 17 down to 4, 3 of my children were not scared by the traditional fairy tales in the slightest, one was absolutelty mortified, and the last one likes the stories, but we have had to change the endings slightly, for example the 3 pigs all survive, and red riding hoods granny went on holiday. in our experience you have to play it by ear, all children are different, and each one has different preferences.

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Regards,
Jack - children bedtime