The first little heuristic trick toward mental health. It seems to me that children actually used to be taught such things, and weren’t left to bring themselves up like wolf boys.
For some reason, this article had my mind wandering to “My Favorite Things”. Turns out, there was a reason. Think Julie Andrews, and sing along:
When the dog bites, when the bee stings
When I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember
my favorite things
and then I don’t feeel so bad!
Weren’t children’s stories full of such things, once upon a time? Every story had some lesson to be learned. I don’t have kids, but my impression is that every story these days aims at imparting a proper attitude, not a useful skill.
Two of the three little pigs got eaten. The grasshopper starved to death. Little Red Ridinghood and her grandmother both got eaten with no miraculous rescue. The boy who cried wolf got eaten, along with all his sheep. The little mermaid didn’t get the prince and was cursed to walk the world in agony for the rest of her days. Several other stories, the central “villain” does something wrong (or maybe even just rude or inconsiderate) and the protagonist of the story kills them and all their family and burns their house down.
The stories these days are overly-worried about not scaring children with the fact that the world is a dangerous place and one mistake can be the end of you and everything you care about. The old versions very much wanted to drive that point home.
As a society we’ve prioritized “feeling safe” over “being safe” when it comes to raising children. Isn’t that scary?
The first little heuristic trick toward mental health. It seems to me that children actually used to be taught such things, and weren’t left to bring themselves up like wolf boys.
For some reason, this article had my mind wandering to “My Favorite Things”. Turns out, there was a reason. Think Julie Andrews, and sing along:
Weren’t children’s stories full of such things, once upon a time? Every story had some lesson to be learned. I don’t have kids, but my impression is that every story these days aims at imparting a proper attitude, not a useful skill.
Two of the three little pigs got eaten. The grasshopper starved to death. Little Red Ridinghood and her grandmother both got eaten with no miraculous rescue. The boy who cried wolf got eaten, along with all his sheep. The little mermaid didn’t get the prince and was cursed to walk the world in agony for the rest of her days. Several other stories, the central “villain” does something wrong (or maybe even just rude or inconsiderate) and the protagonist of the story kills them and all their family and burns their house down.
The stories these days are overly-worried about not scaring children with the fact that the world is a dangerous place and one mistake can be the end of you and everything you care about. The old versions very much wanted to drive that point home.
As a society we’ve prioritized “feeling safe” over “being safe” when it comes to raising children. Isn’t that scary?