Fairy Stories Make Me Anxious

I am sure you have all heard the story of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.

Even in this story the writer brings anxiety to the character.

One of the concerns Ali Baba has is hoping the door to his cave will open in time and his treasure and hiding place will go undiscovered.

This may seem like a silly story to an adult but if you really look at it and listen to the words as you read you will hear all the references to escape, villains, stealing ,and fast chases.

I think this could cause anxiety for most of us in the real world.

If we pay attention to the written word in all its forms there are many stories we have heard over the years that were innocent in nature but very violent as well.

I was talking to my husband tonight and he pointed this out to me.

I asked myself why I had not noticed these anxiety causing scenarios.

We take for granted the fact that stories are to be enjoyed but at what price?

We read them to our children and then some of them have nightmares.

Is it any wonder that the underlying messages in the stories can stay with us for life?

This got me thinking of all the cartoons, nursery rhymes, children’s stories and fairy tales we read.

Look at the story lines in these little gems.

What we fill our minds with is a delicate matter and there are certainly consequences to everything we do.

You are probably like me and went through life just accepting tales and stories as entertainment.

What I am saying is , in the adult world we have the same thing going on.

The programs we watch, books we read, newspapers we look at as well as magazines and movies can add to the panic ,stress and anxiety of everyday life.

With the bombarding of negative stimuli, we need to start tuning in to some positive uplifting information.

I encourage everyone to remember stories like Little Red Riding Hood, Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood, and Jack and the Bean Stock to name a few.

Do you see the anxiety causing stories here?

I am not saying we should stop reading fairy tales to our children.

Just watch for all the places anxiety can enter your world and have a plan in place when the anxiety becomes too much.

Here is one that will get you thinking…

Aladdin and the Magic Lamp.

Do you think he experienced anxiety?

I think his biggest worry was what to wish for.

When i was a child i did not like to hear these stories because they were
scary and evil. I was bothered and disturbed by them. (You left off all the stories about wicked witches.) Why, what's the point to telling children
these fairy tales that have such dark and sinister undertones? They always have such a negitive and ancious plot. :?: They always contain
some sort of ultimate brutality . I don't think there fun for kids to hear.

Originally they weren't meant to entertain kids. They were meant to scare and control kids.

Edit: and then Disney and others watered them down.

FAIRY STORIES

I know that society has some kind of attitude that it is not entertainment unless it is fast paced, violent and very graphic.
No wonder kids can not sit still and do a quite slow activity. They are bored, cannot amuse themselves and are losing their ability to use imagination. Children today have to have the constant "wow"stimulus or they are not interested in what they perceive to be a toy or game they do not like and sometimes will not even try it. This is true of things they do not see splattered all over the T.V. in commercials. If it was not on T.V. then it probably is no good.
It is up to the adults to integrate more user friendly toys and games. We will help the children by not buying the ruff stuff and talking to them about your concerns and helping them to be creative doing crafts and games where there is a thinking process,not just flashes on a screen that over stimulate their minds.
Kids do not always need to be bombarded with information every second they are looking at something. Let them get used to figuring out stuff and using their brains to perhaps look at situations on their own.
Parenting is work but it is good rewarding work and joy for us when we see our kids actually figure out things on their own. It is the old "light bulb" going off syndrome.
Independent thinkers will be the result of a more pure form of learning.
Everything in moderation as this is a high tech world so we as parents must be a guide for the little ones.
Take care and hopefully our kids will not have as much or no anxiety to deal with as adults when we give them a balanced start in life.

Lorraine