Why I read my kids Fairy tales

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.” Albert Einstein is quoted as saying. “If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”

As a mother, I love sharing fantastical adventures that will allow my children to believe that love will conquer all and good will always triumph over evil. I love seeing the smiles on their sweet faces as Cinderella marries her Prince Charming and hear the words ‘happily ever after’. Perhaps that is reason enough why fairy tales are important, because they make us happy. 

“Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist,” English writer G.K. Chesterton says, “but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

Let’s face it, life is hard. Negativity is everywhere. The reason why Fairy tales are so important is because they remind us to dream. It allows us to dare to believe that there’s our very own happy ending somewhere out there waiting to happen. 

Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale of all. — Hans Christian Anderson

I grew up singing the songs of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. However, my favorite Disney Princess song is when Belle is standing in a wide, expansive field and you can hear the emotion in her voice as she sings: 

I want much more than this provincial life
I want adventure in the great wide somewhere
I want it more than I can tell
And for once it might be grand
To have someone understand
I want so much more than they've got planned

I want my children to believe they are truly capable of accomplishing anything in this world through hard work; to be strong enough to break through barriers and stereotypes; to have hope despite the evils that are so prevalent in this world today. Most importantly, I want them to understand that even though life is not easy, it can be vastly rewarding when we are striving to be kind.

So yes, I read my children Fairy tales. I fill their heads with stories of flying carpets, sleeping princesses, and girls that can save the world. I remind them that you don’t have to be perfect to have your own happily ever after, but you do have to believe that it is possible to have one.