DO FAIRY TALES AFFECT CHILDREN’S

PERCEPTION OF REALITY?
I. ARGUMENTS.
1. IN FAVOR.
 Fairy Tales affects children's perception because they shape their mind into unrealistic
expectations. For example: gender stereotypes, love, goals, extreme optimism, and so
on.
- Girls who hear fairy tale classics such as Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast when
they are children are more likely to stay in destructive relationships as adults. (Susan
Darker-Smith's research: Fairy tale Dangers).

 Fairy Tales could develop self-teem problems because most of the characters' designs
follow beauty standards. In fairy tales, pretty characters are related with "good" while
ugly characters are related with "evil". As well, they can create a misunderstand about
flat woman or stepmothers who are almost shown as villains in movies like The little
mermaid or Cinderella. (The Positive Impacts of Fairy Tales for Children by Leilani
VisikoKnox-Johnson; How Fairy Tales Affect Our Perceptions Of Reality by Urvee
Baweja, The CBS Post).

2. AGAINST.
 Fairy Tales do not affect children’s perception of reality. An article of the University of
Hawai‘i at Hilo (The Positive Impacts of Fairy Tales for Children by Leilani
VisikoKnox-Johnson), pointed out fairy tales have an impact on children’s mind
development, thus they help them to their morals, improve their problem-solving skills
and creativity. Through those unreal stories they understand the world easier.

 Carl Jung, stated that it is through fairytales that one can best study the comparative
anatomy of the psyche. In the field of Jungian analytical psychology, fairy tales are
viewed as playing an essential role in obtaining a wider understanding of human nature.
This is because in stories such as Rumpelstiltskin and Snow White there is much less
cultural-conscious material than there are in myths and legends, which means they are
able to mirror the basic patterns of the psyche more clearly.

 Fairy Tales cannot affect children's perception because they can differentiate reality
from fiction. Children gradually improved their ability to understand the difference by
their experiences.
- More recent research shows, however, that children are not globally poor at making
this distinction, and that certain basic abilities are in place as early as age 3. For
example, children distinguish pretend actions from real ones, imaginings from reality,
and toys from the objects they represent. (Revisiting the Fantasy-Reality Distinction
by Jacqueline D. Woolley and Maliki Ghossainy).
 - According to that articles, children have some clues to know if something is real or
not, those are: Evaluating Context, Existing Knowledge, Evaluating Expertise (Can
Children Understand the Difference Between Fantasy and Reality? By Cynthia
Vinney).
- Children learn to differentiate between reality and fantasy from a variety of sources,
including: Family and friends, experiences, stories, physical, psychological, and
biological properties.

 Fairy Tales cannot affect children's perception because some situations are impossible
or some elements violates physical reality. For example: fairies, pigs who can build
houses, fairy godmothers, and so on.

 The don't affect their perception of reality, they stimulate them. Fairy tales stimulates
creativity and problem-solving skills. (How Do Fairytales Affect Child Development?
Catherine Kolonko).

II. ARGUMENTS ON INTERNET.

A. IN FAVOR.
POSITIVE EFFECTS.
1. Fairy tales affect a child's emotional, physical and mental development.
2. Fairy tales teach children how to deal with basic human conflicts, desires, and
relationships in a healthy way.
3. A false reality might also affect their perception of many things. Children might be
frustrated due to a cognitive dissonance resulting from mismatched realities.
4. Fairy tales are crucial for the development of a child's imagination.
5. They introduce a sense of wonder.
6. These are also good because they teach morals.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS.
7. These negative implications of fairy tales, both young and old, appear in almost every
story across the board.
o Low self esteem.
o Unrealistic ideas of love.
o An outdated sense of reality.
o An extreme misunderstanding of good vs. evil.
8. Reading fairy tales gives false hope to the readers, making them believe that the world
is colourful with no flaws. They may develop false expectations or dreams.

B. AGAINST.
1. Fairy tales do not affect a children's perception of reality as, during a child's early years,
they are unable to understand the real world and the only thing that appeals to them is
their imagination and the fairy tales that live in it. Children will eventually grow up and
as they grow older, their minds will also adapt to the real world and will naturally shed
their fairy tale vision of the world around them.
2. I believe that fairy tales do not affect children's reality because as a child I myself read
fairy tales all the time and it helps me imagine things and imagination is good for
children. Have you ever wondered how an inventor became an inventor because he/she
imagined that they could do that and fairy tales kind of inspire them. Without fairy tales
imagine if nobody invented things how we would be.
3. No, I don't think that fairy tales affect children's perception of reality.
Instead, Fairy tales help the children develop imagination from a very young age. They help
in the blooming of critical thinking. Fairy tales also help children improve their
Vocabulary. They serve to make children understand emotions better. They are great
teachers of Moral Values!
Fairy tales contain magic and hypothetical deeds but the main purpose is to help children in
solving their problems positively and wisely.They convey the message "Good things come
to those who wait", just like the way Cinderella and Snow White did!
4. Children typically learn to tell the difference between fantasy and reality by using the
context in which they’re learning the information by the time they are about 4 years old
(so if they’re watching a movie or their parents are reading them a bedtime story)

III. CONCEPTS.
 Metacognition is the process of thinking about one’s own thinking and
learning. It involves knowing when you know, knowing when you don’t
know, and knowing what to do when you don’t know.

REFERENCES
https://psychcentral.com/health/pros-and-cons-of-exposing-kids-to-fairytales#recap
(arguments)
https://toistudent.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/school-buzz/do-fairy-tales-affect-
children-s-perception-of-reality/71980.html
https://www.verywellmind.com/can-children-understand-the-difference-between-fantasy-
and-reality-5217713 (How children differentiate reality from fantasy)
https://www.jungian-confrerie.com/phdi/p1.nsf/supppages/8209?opendocument&part=28
(Carl Jung).
Psychological Impact of Fairy Tales on the Mind of Children Free Essay Example
(studymoose.com)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3689871/