As children growing up we are taught by our parents a lot about life through the use of fairy tales. I have always wondered just how many girls have actually kissed a frog. As much as these fairy tales have helped parents prepare children for their journeys in life, they have also hurt. We are taught at a young age that deceit is an acceptable form of parenthood. This same deceit follows us in our journey. It all seems perfectly harmless, after all, we went through exactly the same things and we turned out OK… didn’t we? We want to teach our children not to lie. There is no such thing as a small lie or a lie that has good intentions behind it. Yet we tell them all their childhood lives that if they are bad, Santa will not bring them anything for Christmas. Of course, they soon learn that isn’t exactly true because of all the things they didn’t get caught by YOU doing, Santa didn’t see either. And they ultimately get most of everything they ask for at Christmas time anyway. So, there are still rewards for being bad if you don’t get caught. And soon they learn it was all a lie anyway and there really is no Santa living at the North Pole. There are so many fairy tales that teach about Prince Charming, true love, and happily ever after. Young ladies at a very young age start dreaming of their knight in shining armor rescuing them from the rule of the King and Queen they know as mom and dad. The first guy that comes into their lives that makes them feel, special, and beautiful, and makes promises of a happily ever after life they have always dreamed of becomes their knight in shining armor. Only to find out happily ever after is only a few months long at best. Leaving them with a broken heart and broken dreams. Believing they will never know true love or happily ever after. I’m sure most remember the story about the ugly duckling that grew into a beautiful swan. So, those of us who may not have been the prettiest in school are led to believe in time we will grow into a beautiful person just like the fairy tale. Only to realize later that we may never be that beautiful swan but look as we do for the rest of our lives. Now all hope is lost, we will never be beautiful, life is one big lie after another, and there is no knight in shining armor or happily ever after. These fairy tales we thought would give our children something to look forward to and pleasant dreams have played a huge part in destroying their real lives and becoming the nightmares they live in now. I cannot help but wonder growing up had I known what life really had in store for me, if maybe, just maybe I would have taken a different path. At what point in a child’s life should we start teaching the difference between real life and fairy tales? As parents, we should remember our childhood and what we wish we had known before we became adults. Then spare our children the pain and disappointment we experienced. Don’t be another link in the same old chain. Break the chain and be the first link in a new chain your children will be proud to emulate.
Simply my thoughts
Dean Butler
