Fairytales, in support of instilling green morals

As a child growing up, among the world’s many aged old secrets, the ones that fascinated me the most was the secret world that lived on beneath the covers of the great old trees of the forests. I was always an imaginative child and the stories and folklore of the magical world of faeries only fed to the building of a strong belief that there was truth in these stories. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion – some would just rub this all off as fiddlesticks but the one thing you can’t deny is the fact that the ‘existence’ of such stories or fairytales to be precise is vital to the development of a child, as are the tales about knights and dragons or Santa Clause and the Easter Rabbit.  

Such stories ignite dreams in children, encouraging possibilities by surrounding them with a comfort blanket of hope and faith. I couldn’t agree more with Schiller when he said “…deeper meaning lies in the fairy tales of my childhood than in the truth that life teaches”. Modern day experts recognise fairy tales as an important tool for children to learn to navigate through the streams of reality and survival in a harsh world ruled by cold insipid adults.

Fairy tales are like poetry, meant for those with souls; they feed the mind and nurture the soul. They provide wisdom- all cleverly hidden, which is why children absorb so easily the difference between that which is good and kind as oppose to that which is vile and repulsive. Fairy tales are the very foundation of moral education and today I feel their role has extended well beyond just that. In fact they now play a role in instilling ‘green’ values in our young children.

Despite being just tales, such stories always took a setting in our real world which leaves the logic to children simple. They love the characters in their story and would do anything to protect them. If no toadstools meant no fairies, no  or no North Pole meant no Santa and his Elves as well as the reindeer, then it becomes obvious what they must do – protect the setting/home to the fairytale characters to keep them alive. And since their home is a place within our home, children will learn to protect and sustain the planet. All it takes is for the ones reading the stories to hint this connection to them…their little minds will work wonders after!

Fairytales, in support of hopes, dreams, moral and the Green.