A few years ago, I came across an article that claimed it was harmful for children to be exposed to fairy tales. The author said the stories were backward and gave children delusional ideas about reality. As someone who finds fairy stories to be inspirational for my own writing, I wanted to explore what fairy stories really do for children and their development. Do they give children living in the twenty-first century detrimental ideas? Or do they help children develop a moral framework while igniting their imaginations?
Before going further, I need to clarify that “fairy stories” may or may not include fairies and magic. Fairy stories are imaginative tales about someone in a place that does not exist, or that features things that do not exist. This includes some fantasy stories, as well as some traditional fairy tales, folk tales, and legends. Cultures and civilizations across the globe tell these stories. Please note that discretion is needed in choosing which fairy stories are appropriate for your children.
I would suggest that fairy stories help children to think about big questions, learn important lessons, and fall more deeply in love with goodness and beauty. After closing The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien, I saw the world differently. I appreciated the intricacies in a leaf, my loving family, and the small joys of everyday life because I realized that they were gifts. After the crags of Mount Doom, I longed for the Shire. Far from being frivolous, fairy stories teach us many things about the world and humanity. They do this by pulling us out of our everyday world to offer us a gem of truth before sending us back to implement it in our lives. Following directions can keep you from harm. Loving someone could transform even the most ferocious beast. Truth is a treasure that has its own rewards.
At the same time, many fairy stories also illustrate that people do not always respect what is good and right—there are wicked kings and evil stepmothers and old witches. So, while fairy stories teach children important lessons about what is right and good and how the world should be, they also tell us that we do not live in an ideal world. We may not be encountering ogres and giants, but these fantastic creatures can prepare children to be ready to face the real world where wickedness exists.
The beauty of fairy stories is that they tend to be extremely predictable, in that people usually “get what they deserve.” G. K. Chesterton said, “fairy-tales are at root not only moral in the sense of being innocent, but moral in the sense of being didactic, moral in the sense of being moralizing.” In contrast with many stories being published today, telling kids that truth is subjective and their happiness is the highest purpose in life, these old tales call kids to more. They read like a proverb, warning that you will reap what you sow. While many of these stories do not directly reference the God of the Bible, the themes in these stories can open the door to great conversations with your kids on how they can apply biblical morals in their lives.
Fairy stories give children a taste of what the real world is like by whisking them out of it to help them to see reality more clearly. As J. R. R. Tolkien said, “[T]hey open a door on Other Time, and if we pass through, though only for a moment, we stand outside our own time, outside Time itself, maybe.”
By removing us from what is familiar, fairy stories help us to see what lasts. They prepare children for the real world by broadening their perspectives. Fairy stories also help to make the journeys and trials of life seem less frightening, as Tolkien said:
“Children are meant to grow up…. Not to lose innocence and wonder, but to proceed on the appointed journey… it is one of the lessons of fairy-stories… that on callow, lumpish, and selfish youth peril, sorrow, and the shadow of death can bestow dignity, and even sometimes wisdom.”
Fairy stories can give children hope for their own lives and confidence that there is something powerful about even the smallest things and most overlooked people.
Far from making us want to escape the world, fairy stories can make us love life more. By entering a world filled with magic and wonder, children find that the most magical things of all exist in our own world—things like love, trust, forgiveness, and beauty. As C. S. Lewis wrote: “the whole story, paradoxically enough, strengthens our relish for real life. This excursion into the preposterous sends us back with renewed pleasure to the actual.”
Fairy stories make us cherish the beautiful moments in our own lives and enrich the way we view the world. After evaluating the claims in the article I read several years ago, I have decided that fairy stories are dangerous. They are dangerous against the darkness in our world today. By igniting kids’ imaginations and teaching them to love the things that matter most, they are both revolutionary and something we need in every age. Fairy stories are part of the heritage of cultures from all over the world, and they help us to get to know the world more deeply.
Children who read fairy stories are not merely learning about right and wrong, good and evil, hope and despair, they are experiencing it. Fairy stories are thought-provoking tales that convey deep truth through the wild beauty of imagination.
You can connect with Samantha and learn more about her writing at SamanthaKayRoth.com.
- Why Kids Need Fairy Stories in a Modern World - May 21, 2025
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