fairy tales

[Guest Guest]

My husband and I have decided that we don't want to have our children knowing fairy tales because of all the witches and magic etc in them. Does anyone else do this?

Katy-Anne

[joyfulpraise93]

I don't have any kids yet. not married. However, when/if I ever do have kids, I will not read fairy tales to them. I think it fills their miond with unnecessary things. Better to read them accounts from the Bible, which are more exciting and interesting anyway, and is also a part of training them up in the way they should go. There's my little "unmarried with no children 2-cents" for what its worth. :P

[Guest Guest]

LOL! I think it is pretty good, Rachel!

Katy-Anne

[kevinmiller]

I'll read them, or let them read the classics. Nothing with magic though.

[Psalms18_28]

I found plenty of stories that don't involve witches and fairies.

like Bible stories

and stories like the Berenstain Bears or Clifford. I like the stories like country mouse/city mouse, Red Riding hood or the three little pigs (Red Riding hood and the three little pigs teaches them a lesson on danger. Red riding hood's mistake was that she gave the wolf too much information where she is going).

[joyfulpraise93]

I work at a library so I see tonnnns of good children's books come through. I like "All the Places to Love"--by Patricia MacLachlan (who wrote Sarah, Plain and Tall)..also the "Bear Snores On" series for little kids. The "If You Give a Mooose a Muffin" series is super great too. There are a lot of awesome kids books out there. Books that teach good character and emphasize thinking on good things. However they still are no replacement for the Bible, which is by far the best book for children. I remember reading all the stories when I was little. My mom read them to me, rather. I know that the accounts of David and Goliath, Jonah, Paul and Silas in the jail, Adam and Eve, Noah, the faith of those 4 men bringing their friend to Jesus, Blind Bartimaeus....were so wonderful to me as a little girl. I know that they helped me to see God as a holy, yet loving God. When the time came, and the Holy Spirit was dealing with my heart about my sin...I knew Who to turn to. To the Lord Jesus, who I had heard sooo much about. Thank the Lord for parents who upheld God's Word above all other books in our home. :)

[Alen]

Even now I love the fairly tales I got told as a kid, especially the ones from my home country, gives me a sense of heritage.

Most of the stories that contain witches do not show them in good light, as far as the ones I know, this could be helpful in enforcing the Biblical command against witches.

As for the magic side of it, in stories like Cinderella etc Then I guess you could stick away from those stories which somewhat 'promote' magic.

Also telling Biblical stories would be good as well, I think someone else already mentioned that.

-Alen

[ServingHim]

Being a mother of four and they're almost all grown, I can definitely say that the quality of children's books in most public libraries is poor. Just be very picky and check the content before you check it out...all of it, if possible.
Years ago, much to my dismay, I was reading a Berenstain Bears book to my kids...and a warning bell went off in my head as I read the story. I retraced the tale and noticed how many times Papa would be reprimanded by Mama and made to look dumb. Then I looked at book after book in the series. He was ridiculed and it was like Mama was the smart one. Yet, those books claim to teach such good principles. Satan slips a lot of suggestions into children's books.

Let me recommend the Billy and Blaze series which is pretty old, but it's about a little boy and his horse. The illustrations are good and the stories are old-fashioned.

There's also Blueberries for Sal, Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel, and one about a snow plow that was Katie something. Virginia Lee Burton wrote good ones.
And so did Robert McCloskey--his illustrations were great (can you tell I'm an artist??). I could go on and on, but a really good secular book is worth hanging on to, because they are far and few between.

[BroJesse]

There's nothing like taking something from the Bible and then enacting the whole scene and having the kids participate. It makes for a very wild time, especially just before bedtime.

We must have done Jehu's wild chariot riding and tossing evil Queen Jezebel over the tower countless times until I'm just too tired of doing it anymore.

We're reading the Gospel of Matthew aloud at the moment, one chapter at a time.

Yes, we generally don't have much in the way of secular children's fiction, but it is mostly because we decided on our criteria before we filtered all these things. We do have stuff that's neutral and the kids do get to borrow good books from the library.

The dad in Berenstein Bears does seem to be somewhat ignorant and is probably painted to be a hillbilly of sorts. I think we only have 1 copy even though it came highly recommended by another preacher. Sometimes, the Lord just seems to lead in things like that and so we never collected the series of books.

I picked up an old '50s edition of the Children's Britannica from eBay and it was quite conservative and my eldest daughter who just turned 7 enjoys a rather thick book of children's devotionals that was published in the 1950s and she finds that interesting reading.

[Psalms18_28]

Being a mother of four and they're almost all grown, I can definitely say that the quality of children's books in most public libraries is poor. Just be very picky and check the content before you check it out...all of it, if possible.
Years ago, much to my dismay, I was reading a Berenstain Bears book to my kids...and a warning bell went off in my head as I read the story. I retraced the tale and noticed how many times Papa would be reprimanded by Mama and made to look dumb. Then I looked at book after book in the series. He was ridiculed and it was like Mama was the smart one. Yet, those books claim to teach such good principles. Satan slips a lot of suggestions into children's books.

Let me recommend the Billy and Blaze series which is pretty old, but it's about a little boy and his horse. The illustrations are good and the stories are old-fashioned.

There's also Blueberries for Sal, Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel, and one about a snow plow that was Katie something. Virginia Lee Burton wrote good ones.
And so did Robert McCloskey--his illustrations were great (can you tell I'm an artist??). I could go on and on, but a really good secular book is worth hanging on to, because they are far and few between.

growing up with Berenstain bears, I didn't realize that. Thanks! I guess I better stop reading to my son then. I don't want him to think that all boys and men are stupid.

I was always fascinated with treehouses, so that is what attracted me to Berenstain Bears.

[Anon]

I have alot of good memories about the fun books I got to read as a kid. If my parents would have nixed Madeline because she was Catholic or Dr. Seuss because he was weird or Cinderella because there's a fairy godmother...well...I dunno, that's just childhood!

We don't go out of our way to tell our children "fairy tales" but if they read a classic story or a fun childhood book its not going to kill them at all, IMO.

[Guest Guest]

There are some I don't mind, I just don't like the ones that talk lightly of witches like they are no big deal or of magic etc. You got to remember from an involvement in satanism and witchcraft, I don't want my children to EVER even get the IDEA that either is right or normal. That's mostly why we've decided not to do it. But we want to make sure we replace it with good stuff. You can't take something away and not replace it with something.

I like Dr Seuss...he may be weird but he's funny.

Katy-Anne

[Trish]

I started out that way, but 10 years later my girls are true princesses. We don't go out of the way to promote fariy tales but they will hear the stories and as long as you use them as teaching tools they are ok. Remember, their are stories of witches and princesses in the Bible also. Every thing must be done in moderation. To much of anything is not good.

[Psalms18_28]

The one book I would love to avoid is Peter Pan. it seem that alot weirdos (like Michael Jackson) I know is fascinated with that story because it involve of never growing up. I watched a biographical movie on the author, although I don't know how much it is true, makes me don't want to read it even more. If I remember movie well, the author spend more time with another woman and her children more than his own wife. His wife ended up leaving because she felt very neglected by him. Anyway, He got the story from that other woman children.

[kevinmiller]

I saw that movie, Finding Neverland, if that's what you're talking about. My mom likes it, but I found it boring. :)