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Read Me A Fairy Tale, Mommy!

© Virginia Marin

Today, much emphasis is being placed on the importance of reading to children. We have but to watch television where sooner or later a commercial is shown that stresses reasons why parents should read to their children - and not only children, but to toddlers, and not only to toddlers but to infants, and not only to infants, but to that child yet unborn! Why?

Research has shown that those in utero respond favorably, with rhythmic movements, to soft music and unfavorably to loud music with a monotonous beat. Likewise, reading, with its inflections and variations in pitch within an utterance are picked up via the amniotic fluid which transports the sound waves to the unborn child. Water is a great conductor! But why read?

Reading stimulates early development. After the twenty-sixth week of gestation the brain and neurological systems are developed. Stimulation of the brain is critical. Reading is surely one of the most important things a parent can do, to this end, for his child.

Reading also helps a child to identify objects. It helps in language development and the child's ability to form sentences. It fosters the understanding of relationships between words and objects. It helps to increase a child's self-esteem because he feels the importance of an adult taking time to spend with him. Yes, but what should be read?

One does not need to be an authority in childrens' literature to read - read fairy tales. Read nursery rhymes. Read fables. Read any of the vast body of folktales and mythology which have been child-sized.

I enjoy tremendously going into the childrens' section at Barnes and Noble. The first shelves to my right and left are filled with fairy tale titles. Colorful books of all sizes - beautifully illustrated and delightfully printed books with alphabetized curliques and fabled animals. Here can be found the greatest tellers of tales the world has ever known - Charles Perrault, The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.

What child (or adult!) cannot be enthralled with the enchanting drawings of beloved illustrators such as Kate Greenaway, Tasha Tudor, Beatrix Potter, Randolph Caldecott, Walter Crane and George Cruikshank? I adore Arthur Rackham's illustration of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens as well as the black and white ovals of   Trevor Zahra in the fantasy tale of The Enchanted Grapefruits.

In the 1800's fairy tales were not read to children, as they were thought to distort their reality, but by about 1840 the Victorians were praising Aesop's Fables with their high moral teachings.

The copyright of the article Read Me A Fairy Tale, Mommy! in Folklore is owned by Virginia Marin. Permission to republish Read Me A Fairy Tale, Mommy! in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.