Beware of Big Bad Wolves
July 16th 2008 02:41
Due to new guidelines, teachers will soon give children “safety messages” after reading them fairytales and nursery rhymes. Our little ones will be advised not to copy characters such as Goldilocks, guilty of break and enter, Little Red Riding Hood, who recklessly skipped through the forest alone, and Hansel and Gretel, who unwittingly snuck into a strange woman’s gingerbread house (another break and enter) and wound up in her oven.
Give our poor kids a bit of credit for goodness sakes. Even my two year old knows that bears don’t really eat porridge, Humpty Dumpty isn’t a real person and it’s a bad idea to talk to wolves! Fairytales and nursery rhymes are supposed to be FUN! That’s their whole point.
As with the kerfuffle over Humphry B. Bear’s pants, Cookie Monster’s junk food promotion, and Bert & Ernie’s alleged special friendship, I’m left wondering whether this new “Child Protection Curriculum” will further spoil childhood for our poor modern kids.
The do-gooders seem to believe that these imaginative, sometimes exciting stories passed down through the generations are damaging our kids. What’s more damaging? Frightening children into thinking all strangers are bad people planning to abduct them and eat them, or their grandma?
Most of the kids I know are smart enough to enjoy fairytales and nursery rhymes for what they are – fun stories. And none of them are afraid of the big bad wolf!
Give our poor kids a bit of credit for goodness sakes. Even my two year old knows that bears don’t really eat porridge, Humpty Dumpty isn’t a real person and it’s a bad idea to talk to wolves! Fairytales and nursery rhymes are supposed to be FUN! That’s their whole point.
As with the kerfuffle over Humphry B. Bear’s pants, Cookie Monster’s junk food promotion, and Bert & Ernie’s alleged special friendship, I’m left wondering whether this new “Child Protection Curriculum” will further spoil childhood for our poor modern kids.
The do-gooders seem to believe that these imaginative, sometimes exciting stories passed down through the generations are damaging our kids. What’s more damaging? Frightening children into thinking all strangers are bad people planning to abduct them and eat them, or their grandma?
Most of the kids I know are smart enough to enjoy fairytales and nursery rhymes for what they are – fun stories. And none of them are afraid of the big bad wolf!
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