Introduction
When reading stories, people usually expect their characters to overcome all obstacles, solve their issues, and eventually live happily ever after. However, if all stories had a good ending, they would convey wrongful messages about happiness, beauty, and challenges. Although some may disagree, all stories should not have a happy finale because it does not prepare kids for reality.
The Impact of Fairy Tales on Children
To begin with, fairy tales can negatively affect the child’s moral and emotional development. Considering the fact that kids analyze the received information from their unique perspectives and still have an undeveloped psyche, it is easy for stories with a happy ending to manipulate their immature minds. According to Zunair, “fairy tales may lead us to unnecessary and impossible expectations — ultimately resulting in frustration and cognitive problems.” For example, some stories can give kids a false impression that it is safe to communicate with strangers, while what happens in “Rumpelstilzchen” specifically tells them otherwise.
Furthermore, fictional stories may be deceiving and expose children to certain risks. In most fairy tales, positive characters are beautiful and pretty. For children reading such stories with restrictive aesthetics, it can be detrimental as they begin to believe that happiness is associated with thinness and beauty – as seen in Ursula from “The Little Mermaid” and Cinderella’s stepsisters. As noticed by Tarannum, there are wrong depictions of males’ and females’ roles and unhealthy body images in these tales. Therefore, fictional stories can bring more harm than good, while a not-quite-happy story about Rumpelstilzchen teaches kids essential things, including not taking anything from strangers because certain consequences will follow.
At the same time, it is believed that fairy tales allow children to develop emotional resiliency by demonstrating that good triumphs over evil and that the protagonist’s efforts always pay off. According to Seltz, witnessing a villain being defeated in a story gives the child time to process real-life situations and then have the courage to face them. One example is again the story about Rumpelstilzchen, which can falsely demonstrate that no matter how dangerous a stranger is, there are ways to defeat them. However, what these fictional stories portray is actually far away from reality. Research shows that children become programmed to achieve happiness through marriage (Loder). Unfortunately, this is especially harmful to girls who do not get prepared for actual obstacles.
Conclusion
To conclude, many fictional stories portray the wrong reality, making children believe that beauty equals happiness. Kids’ undeveloped psyche can be easily affected by these portrayals, and their minds can get manipulated. What is more, fairy tales can program the young audience to certain standards, unhealthy body images, and striving to have marriage as their best achievement. Therefore, stories like Rumpelstilzchen show kids what the real world with its dangers is like.
Works Cited
Loder, Vanessa. “Why Fairy Tales Are Bad for Our Kids.” Huffpost. 2015. Web.
Seltz, Marie Yvette. “Facing Challenges (Building Resilience, Part 3).” Family Vision Media. 2021. Web.
Tarannum, Syeda Afrin. “Why Disney Princesses are Terrible Role Models.” The Daily Star. 2019. Web.
Zunair, Muhammed. “Do Fairy Tales Affect Our Perception of Reality?” Medium, 2021. Web.