Traumatizing Children with Horrific Tales

Goldilocks and little red riding hood got eaten because they didn’t dress tznius even though lrrh covered her hair she tempted the wolf with her basket full of herring.

My third and prettiest (size zero obviously) and most tzanua wife points out that little red riding hood was not tznius because she wore red.

Also, she talked to the wolf who was a man. It does NOT matter that she thought it was her grandmother. First, because the wolf did not think so. And second, because she should have been diligent and investigated!

Polygamist bar Abba?

Well, pba must be a big proponent of making personal sacrifice to alleviate the shidduch crisis.

There’s a German bedtime story that goes something to the effect of, “there once was a boy who sucked his thumb. His mother told him to stop but he wouldn’t. So, she cut off his thumbs. Now he has no thumbs. The end.” It’s a little longer than that but that’s the exact story line. Also, remember another German bedtime story Hansel and Gretel? They get put in an oven because they liked candy (I think).

Hansel and Gretel came upon a house of candy, inside a witch lived and pretended to be nice and fed them and gave them a home until she had fattened them up, then she threw them in a fire and ate them. The end

Now that I’m an adult, I often worry about being eaten. I never did get over learning those frightening fairy tales.

I’ve been to some homes where children are told about G-d getting angry at the Jewish people and punishing us. Even though it’s true, I’ve often had the impression that it wasn’t handled as it should have been based on the ages of the children who were being told.

The original Grimm fairy tales are MUCH worse than the Disney ones (and I already was scared by the evil queen in Snow White when I was a kid…). Pretty much everyone dies, and quite horribly.

oyyoyyoy- Hunchback is actually a novel by Victor Hugo.

My first thought after reading the thread title was all of the tznius horror stories I heard to “inspire.” Yep, yep.

edited

I agree, and therefore re-wrote most of these tales when telling my grandchildren these fairytales. In it, Goldilocks apologizes to the Three Bears for entering their home without permission and using their things, they invite her to join them for dinner, because it is a mitzvah to invite guests, and she apologizes to her mommy for leaving the house without her knowledge.

Little Red Riding Hood gets a similar treatment, only she is bringing a Shabbos treat to her Bubby, and he learns the meaning of sharing and apologizes for trying to trick her and for hiding her Bubby in the closet. Of course, she invites him to join them for an Oneg Shabbos party.

The three little pigs end up telling the wolf that if he was so hungry, all he had to do was ask nicely, and they invite him to share a meal also. (See my recurring theme of hachnossas orchim?) My very wise little granddaughter told me today, “But Bubby, how could the three pigs do hachnossas orchim? They aren’t even KOSHER!

I never call Cinderella’s stepmother her wicked stepmother, either. I just call her the Bossy Lady and her two daughters.

For anyone who might think this is dumbing down the stories, or whatever, there is enough ugliness in the world. I prefer to tell tales that have a good point to them.

Apropos of Rockabye Baby, many years ago I posted my own original alternate ending to the song (and my granddaughter will insist that my version is THE version). “When the bough breaks, the cradle won’t fall, ki Hashem Elokeinu, shomeir al ha-kol.”

Oh, I thought you just didn’t like fiction stories

Thank goodness Rapunzel got updated

oomis-

i loved your versions, and agree with your granddaughter, that those ARE the real versions! or should be!

whenever i tell people that my kids don’t know of disney and all these fairy tales, they look at me like i’m crazy for depriving my kids from this essential ingredient to a healthy upbringing. i’d rather my kids be fluent in all the wonderful jewish stories and torah, and totally ignorant of these shtussim i grew up with. but now i can use your versions and entertain them in a yiddish way. thanks!

WIY: Most early folk tales (that modern “fairy tales” are based off of) are quite gruesome. That was normal in peasant life. It represented taking down the establishment. French and German folk tales are the most gruesome, with English and Italian being tamer. Hans Christian Anderson tales are most similar to our Disney-fied fairy tales today.

rebyidd: That’s okay. In the original French folk tale (“La Belle.. La Monster, if I recall the title correctly), he married a dozen women then ate them after the wedding, which is why he was cursed to be the Beast.

Fairy tales were meant to be scary. Hansel and Gretel was meant to teach kids not to go candy hunting in the forest. Little red riding hood was don’t daydream and wander off the path etc…

Twinkle twinkle Kchavim

Way up in the Shamayim

when you say Shma at night

You know everything will be all right

Twinkle Twinkle Kochavim

Way up in the Shamayim

The worst is Humpty Dumpty. After hearing that, I was so taken apart that all the kings horses…

come in small packages

Fairy tales were meant to be scary. Hansel and Gretel was meant to teach kids not to go candy hunting in the forest. Little red riding hood was don’t daydream and wander off the path etc…”

Right, so I ALWAYS work that lesson into my re-telling of these tales. I remind my grandchildren that Little Red Riding Hood got into trouble because she didn’t listen to her mommy, and that she was very sorry. And Goldilocks learned that she must NEVER walk out of her house when her mommy didn’t give her permission, or take things that don’t belong to her, even from nice bears who are happy to share their porridge.

I haven’t told over Hansel and Gretel yet, because the story is really intrinsically a HORROR (wicked stepmom throws her kids into the woods to let them starve, they almost get eaten by a witch, and then they kill her by shovingher alive into a hot oven…OY!) But I am working on it…Until I get it right, I am not telling such a story to anyone who is not an adult! 😛

Miritchka, thanks for the suggestion – I may take you up on it.

“Tales With Taam” hmmm…

I think fantasy is a GOOD thing for children, it helps their imagination develop and thrive, and the creativity within them can flourish. Tales of Tzaddikim are wonderful – for OLDER kids. Nursery-age kids want to hear about magic menorahs and dancing dreidels. But they can also find wonder in fairytales, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all, if done right. Stories of our Tzaddikim also have scary elements at times. Anyone care to tell a youngster how Rabbi Akiva died??? We don’t focus in inappropriate topics for children too young to handle them. Many fairytales DO have inappropriate aspects. They were written in a different time and place. The idea for the adult, is to know and be selective of what you choose to read or tell to your children.

Oomis, totally agree, as long as they are jewish and kosher and do not have bad ideas mixed in…

Oomis, totally agree, as long as they are jewish and kosher and do not have bad ideas mixed in… “

The world is not only comprised of kosher Jews, or even only Jews. Our kids need to be brought up prepared to deal with the outside world and withstand some of the “bad ideas” they will likely encounter. They need the tools to prepare them for this, and reading a wide variety of literature can help to innoculate them.

The best thing a parent can do, is read to and WITH his/her children. When encountering something questionable, that is a wonderful educational moment, and can jumpstart a great lesson for the future.

When I read or told over the story of Goldilocks to my then three-year old granddaughter, I used that story to illustrate how naughty and dangerous it can be for a child to wander off without parental knowledge and permission. I asked my granddaughter did she think Goldilocks did a good thing or bad thing to go into someone’s house when they were not home, and use their things. At age three, she was able to tell me, “No Bubby, that was very bad. Her mommy should give her a time-out.” I asked her what she would say if she were making up this story, and she told me, she would ask her mommy for permission to visit the bears, and ask her to please call them up, see if it was ok to come over, and then take her there. And then she would make brachos on the porridge, because Goldilocks forgot to say Borei Minei Mezonos. (Yes, she really was ONLY three at the time. She is kinehora a very bright child). But I digress…

Anything has the potential to be good and bad, and children’s literature is no different. We are adults, and it is up to us to get our children to have a healthy, but well-rounded view of their world. We do not live in a glass bubble.

I think that we have to be careful when we do Yiddish fairytales, because so much of that fantasy might be against Torah, i.e. writing about witches. But I am going to give this a LOT of thought, and see what and if I can come up with. Just a thought – was Goldy Lox, NOT Jewish?????????

good gezunt. “

Oops in my haste, I actually misread, gezunt for gezugt. Oh well, I can use a bracha or a compliment, either way. 🙂