Using fairy tales to teach tolerance, empathy, respect, gratitude, and acceptance is a powerful tool against bullying. Fairy tales are excellent for teaching Emotional Intelligence or the soft skills that our society needs more than ever.
.jpg)
Food for Thought: Fairy Tales vs. Digital Influencers
The Character Crisis of the Digital Generation
In 1916, Laura F. Kready championed fairy tales as builders of character, imagination, and moral reasoning. Today, over a century later, her insights feel prophetic as we witness a generation learning life lessons not from time-tested stories of courage, kindness, and consequence, but from 15-second TikTok videos and YouTube personalities whose primary qualification is viral appeal.
What We've Lost in Translation
Then: Fairy Tales Taught Universal Values
- Characters faced moral dilemmas with lasting consequences
- Stories emphasized self-sacrifice, courage, and kindness to the defenseless
- Children learned "poetic justice" - that actions have meaningful outcomes
- Imagination was fed through wonder and possibility
Now: Influencers Teach Instant Gratification
- Content prioritizes shock value, consumption, and self-promotion
- Success is measured in likes, views, and material possessions
- Consequences are minimized or ignored entirely
- Attention spans are fragmented, not expanded
The Empathy Gap
Kready observed that fairy tales help children "realize different situations and social relations" and develop "sympathies...for kindness and fairness, especially for the defenseless." Today's digital diet often has the opposite effect:
- Fairy tales: Encouraged children to see through others' eyes, understand suffering, and celebrate those who help the vulnerable
- Social media: Creates echo chambers, promotes comparison culture, and often celebrates those who exploit or mock others for entertainment
The Imagination Deficit
Where fairy tales once fed the "creative faculties" and helped children believe "the world about throbs with life," today's digital consumption often provides pre-packaged experiences that require no imaginative participation. Children consume rather than create, watch rather than wonder.
What Parents and Educators Can Do
- Reclaim Story Time: Make fairy tale reading a non-negotiable daily practice
- Digital Detox: Create media-free zones where imagination can flourish
- Character Conversations: Use story moments to discuss moral choices and consequences
- Model Wonder: Show children that the real world is as magical as any fairy tale
- Choose Influence Wisely: When digital content is consumed, select creators who demonstrate the values you want to instill
The Stakes Are Higher Than Ever
In Kready's time, children might learn character from family, community, or literature. Today, with weakened community bonds and busy family schedules, digital influences often fill the void by default. The question isn't whether children will be influenced - it's whether we'll choose influences that build character or consume it.
A Call to Action
The "lost value" of fairy tales isn't just about nostalgia - it's about recognizing that human development needs haven't changed, even if our cultural delivery systems have. Children still need:
- Models of courage and kindness
- Practice imagining others' perspectives
- Stories that make sense of cause and effect
- Experiences that feed wonder rather than cynicism
The magic of fairy tales lies not in their fantasy elements, but in their ability to help children practice being human. In an age where humanity itself seems increasingly rare in our digital interactions, perhaps it's time to remember that "once upon a time" might be exactly what our children need to write better endings for their own stories.
LAURA F. KREADY 1916 “A STUDY OF FAIRY TALES”In considering fairy tales for the child, the first question which presents itself is,"Why are fairy stories suited to the child, and what is their value ….?" Fairy tales bring joy into child life. The mission of joy has not been fully preached, but we know that joy works toward physical health, mental brightness, and moral virtue. In the education of the future, happiness together with freedom will be recognized as the largest beneficent powers that will permit the individual of four, from his pristine, inexperienced self-activity, to become that final, matured, self-expressed, self-sufficient, social development-the educated adult.
Joy is the mission of art and fairy tales are art products. As such Pater would say, "For Art comes to you, proposing to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass, and simply for those moments' sake. Not the fruit of experience, but experience, is the end." Such quality came from the art of the fairy tale into the walk of a little girl, for whom even the much-tabooed topic of the weather took on a new, fresh charm. In answer to a remark concerning the day she replied, "Yes, it's not too hot, and not too cold, but just right." All art, being a product of the creative imagination, has the power to stimulate the creative faculties. "For Art, like Genius," says Professor Woodberry, "is common to all men, it is the stamp of the soul in them." All are creatures of imitation and combination; and the little child, in handling an art product, puts his thought through the artist's mold and gains a touch of the artist's joy.
Fairy tales satisfy the play spirit of childhood. Folk-tales are the product of a people in a primitive stage when all the world is a wonder-sphere. Most of our popular tales date from days when the primitive man took his evening meal of yava and fermented mead, and the dusky Sudra roamed the Punjab. "All these fancies are pervaded with that purity by which children seem to us so wonderful," said William Grimm. "They have the same blue-white, immaculate bright eyes." Children are in this same wonder stage. They believe that the world about throbs with life and is peopled with all manner of beautiful, powerful folk.
All children are poets, and fairy tales are the poetic recording of the facts of life. In this day of commercial enterprise, if we would fit children for life we must see to it that we do not blight the poets in them. In this day of emphasis on vocational training, we must remember there is a part of life unfed, un-nurtured, and un-exercised by industrial education. Moreover, whatever will be
accomplished in life will be the achievement of a free and vigorous life of the imagination. Before it was realized, everything new had existed in some trained imagination, fertile with ideas. The tale feeds the imagination, for the soul of it is a bit of play. It suits the child because in it he is not bound by the law of cause and effect, nor by the necessary relations of actual life. He is entirely in sympathy with a world where events follow as one may choose. He likes the mastership of the universe. And fairyland where there is no time; where troubles fade; where youth abides; where things come out all right-is a pleasant place. Furthermore, fairy tales are play forms. "Play," Bichter says, "is the first creative utterance of man." "It is the highest form in which the native activity of childhood expresses itself," says Miss Blow. Fairy tales offer to the little child an opportunity for the exercise of that self-active inner impulse which seeks expression in two kinds of play, the symbolic activity of free play and the concrete presentation of types. The play, The Light Bird, and the tale, The Bremen Town Musicians, both offer an opportunity for the child to express that pursuit of a light afar off, a theme which appeals to childhood. The fairy tale, because it presents an organized form of human experience, helps to organize the mind and gives to play the values of human life. By contributing so largely to the play spirit, fairy tales contribute to that joy of activity, of achievement, of cooperation, and of judgment, which is the joy of all work. This habit of school play, with its joy and freedom and initiative, is the highest goal to be attained in the method of university work. Fairy tales give the child a power of accurate observation. The habit of re-experiencing, of visualization, which they exercise, increases the ability to see, and is the contribution literature offers to nature study. In childhood acquaintance with the natural objects of everyday life is the central interest; in its turn, it furnishes those elements of experience upon which imagination builds. For this reason, it is rather remarkable that the story, which is omitted from the public school system of education, is perhaps the most valuable means of effecting that sense training, freedom, self-initiated play, repose, poise, and power of reflection, which are foundation stones of its structure.
Fairy tales strengthen the power of emotion, develop the power of imagination, train the memory, and exercise the reason. Every day the formation of habits of mind during the process of education is being looked upon with a higher estimate. The formation of habits of mind through the use of fairy tales will become evident during following chapters. Fairy tales extend and intensify the child's social relations. They appeal to the child by presenting aspects of family life. Through them, he realizes his relations to his own parents: their care, their guardianship, and their love.Through this, he realizes different situations and social relations, and gains clear, simple notions of right and wrong. His sympathies are active for kindness and fairness, especially for the defenseless, and he feels deeply the calamity of the poor or the suffering and hardship of the ill-treated. He is in sympathy with that poetic justice which desires immediate punishment of wrong, unfairness, injustice, cruelty, or deceit.
Through fairy tales, he gains a many-sided view of life. Through his dramas, with a power of sympathy which has seemed universal, Shakespeare has given the adult world many types of character and conduct that are noble. But fairy tales place in the hands of childhood all that the thousands and thousands of the universe for ages have found excellent in character and conduct. They hold up for imitation all those cardinal virtues of love and self-sacrifice,- which is the ultimate criterion of character,-of courage, loyalty, kindness, gentleness, fairness, pity, endurance, bravery, industry, perseverance, and thrift. Thus fairy tales build up concepts of family life and of ethical standards, broaden a child's social sense of duty, and teach him to reflect. Besides developing his feelings and judgments, they also enlarge his world of experience. In the school, the fairy tale as one form of the story is one part of the largest means to unify the entire work or play of the child. In proportion as the work of art, nature-study, game, occupation, etc., is fine, it will deal with some part of the child's everyday life. The good tale parallels life. It is a record of a portion of the race reaction to its environment; and being a permanent record of literature, it records experience which is universal and presents situations most human. It is, therefore, material best suited to furnish the child with real problems. As little children have their thoughts and observations directed mainly toward people and centered about the home, the fairy tale rests secure as the intellectual counterpart to those thoughts. As self-expression and self-activity are the great natural instincts of the child, in giving opportunity to make a crown for a princess, mold a clay bowl, decorate a tree, play a game, paint the wood, cut paper animals, sing a lullaby, or trip a dance, the tale affords many problems exercising all the child's accomplishments in the variety of his work. This does not make the story the central interest, for actual contact with nature is the child's chief interest. But it makes the story, because it is an organized experience marked by the values of human life, the unity of the child's return or reaction to his environment. The tale thus may bring about that"living union of thought and expression which dispels the isolation of studies and makes the child live in varied, concrete, active relation to a common world." In the home, fairy tales employ leisure hours in a way that builds character. Critical moments of decision will come into the lives of all when no amount of reason will be a sufficient guide. Mothers who cannot follow their sons to college, and fathers who cannot choose for their daughters, can help their children best to fortify their spirits for such crises by feeding them with good literature. This, when they are yet little, will begin the rearing of a fortress of ideals which will support true feeling and lead constantly to noble action. Then, too, in the home, the illustration of his tale may give the child much pleasure. For this is the day of fairy-tale art; and the child's satisfaction in the illustration of the well-known tale is limitless. It will increase as he grows older, as he understands art better, and as he becomes familiar with the wealth of beautiful editions which are at his command.
And finally, though not of least moment, fairy tales afford a vital basis for language training and thereby take on a new importance in the child's English. Through the fairy tale, he learns the names of things and the meanings of words.
One English fairy tale, The Master of all Masters, is a ludicrous example of the tale built on this very theme of names and meanings. Especially in the case of foreign children, in a tale of repetition, such as The Cat and the Mouse, Teeny Tiny, or The Old Woman and her Pig, will the repetitive passages be an aid to verbal expression. The child learns to follow the sequence of a story and gains a sense of order. He catches the note of definiteness from the tale, which thereby clarifies his thinking. He gains the habit of reasoning to consequences, which is one form of a perception of that universal law which rules the world, and which is one of the biggest things he will ever come upon in life. Never can he meet any critical situation where this habit of reasoning to consequences will not be his surest guide in a decision. Thus fairy tales, by their direct influence upon habits of thinking, effect language training. Fairy tales contribute to language training also by providing another form of that basic content which is furnished for reading. In the future, the child will spend more time in the kindergarten and early first grade in acquiring this content, so that having enjoyed the real literature, when he reads, later on, he will be eager to satisfy his own desires.
Then reading will take purpose for him and be accomplished almost without drill and practically with no effort. The reading book will gradually disappear as a portion of his literary heritage. In the kindergarten, the child will learn the play forms, and in the first grade the real beginnings, of phonics and of the form of words in the applied science of spelling. In music, he will learn the beginnings of the use of the voice. This will leave him free, when he begins reading later, to give attention to the thought reality back of the symbols. When the elements combining to produce good oral reading are cared for in the kindergarten and in the first grade, in the subjects of which they properly form a part, the child, when beginning to read, no longer will be needlessly diverted, his literature will contribute to his reading without interference, and his growth in language will become an improved, steady accomplishment.
10 Timeless Fairy Tales That Teach Empathy Better Than Any TikTok Video
Why our children need these character-building stories more than ever in the digital age
In a world where children learn social cues from 15-second videos and role models are chosen based on follower counts, we're witnessing something unprecedented: a generation struggling with empathy. Research shows that empathy among young people has declined by 40% over the past two decades—coinciding exactly with the rise of digital culture.
But there's hope in the oldest form of education we know: storytelling. Long before psychologists had terms like "emotional intelligence" and "perspective-taking," fairy tales were doing the heavy lifting of teaching children how to understand, connect with, and care for others.
Unlike the fleeting, superficial interactions that dominate social media, fairy tales offer something revolutionary: time. Time to sit with another's pain, to imagine walking in different shoes, to feel the weight of moral choices. They don't just tell us to "be kind"—they show us what kindness looks like when it's tested, challenged, and ultimately rewarded.
Here are ten fairy tales that teach empathy in ways no influencer ever could, along with the profound lessons they offer our screen-saturated children.
1. "The Ugly Duckling" - The Pain of Being Different
The Empathy Lesson: Understanding exclusion and the cruelty of judgment
Hans Christian Andersen's masterpiece doesn't just tell us not to judge by appearances—it makes us feel the duckling's isolation in our bones. When the other animals mock and ostracize the duckling for being different, young readers experience the sting of rejection secondhand. They learn that words can wound, that belonging matters deeply, and that the pain of being different is real and valid.
What TikTok Can't Teach: The story takes time to build emotional investment. We suffer alongside the duckling through seasons of loneliness, making his eventual transformation not just satisfying, but deeply meaningful. Social media's quick dopamine hits can't replicate this slow burn of emotional growth.
Modern Application: In an age of cyberbullying and appearance-based social media, children need to understand both sides—how it feels to be excluded and how their words affect others who are different.
2. "Cinderella" - Recognizing Injustice and Maintaining Grace
The Empathy Lesson: Compassion for those who are mistreated
Cinderella's story isn't just about finding Prince Charming—it's about recognizing unfair treatment and responding with grace rather than bitterness. Children learn to identify when someone is being treated cruelly and to admire those who maintain their kindness despite hardship.
The Character Building: Unlike revenge fantasies popular in modern media, Cinderella doesn't plot against her stepfamily. Her empathy extends even to those who've wronged her, teaching children that maintaining your moral center is more important than getting even.
Why It Matters Today: In a cancel culture where public shaming is entertainment, children need models of grace under pressure and the understanding that responding to cruelty with more cruelty only creates more pain.
3. "The Fox and the Stork" - The Golden Rule in Action
The Empathy Lesson: Treating others as you wish to be treated
This Aesop's fable delivers the Golden Rule through experience rather than lecture. When the fox serves soup on a flat plate that only he can lap up, then receives dinner served in a narrow-necked jar only the stork can reach, the lesson is unforgettable: consider how your actions make others feel.
The Brilliance: The story doesn't just tell children to be considerate—it shows them exactly what inconsideration looks like and feels like from both perspectives.
Digital Age Relevance: Online, it's easy to forget there are real people behind usernames and profile pictures. This story builds the neural pathways needed to pause and ask, "How would I feel if someone did this to me?"
4. "The Elves and the Shoemaker" - Gratitude and Reciprocity
The Empathy Lesson: Recognizing and appreciating help from others
This tale teaches children to notice when others help them and to respond with gratitude rather than entitlement. The shoemaker and his wife don't just enjoy their good fortune—they recognize the elves' sacrifice and want to give back.
The Deeper Message: True empathy includes recognizing the effort others put into helping us, even when that help comes quietly or without fanfare.
Modern Connection: In a world where convenience is expected and gratitude is rare, children need to learn to see and appreciate the invisible labor that makes their lives possible.
5. "Beauty and the Beast" - Looking Beyond the Surface
The Empathy Lesson: Understanding that appearances can deceive
Beauty and the Beast asks young readers to do something revolutionary: empathize with someone who looks frightening. By the story's end, children have learned to see past external appearances to recognize inner kindness, gentleness, and worth.
The Transformation: Both characters transform—Beast becomes human again, but more importantly, Beauty learns to see with her heart rather than her eyes.
Critical Today: In an Instagram world obsessed with filters, perfect lighting, and curated appearances, children desperately need to learn that true connection happens when we look beyond the surface.
6. "The Lion and the Mouse" - Everyone Has Value
The Empathy Lesson: Recognizing worth in the seemingly powerless
When the mighty lion spares a tiny mouse, he's rewarded later when that same mouse saves his life. This Aesop's fable teaches children that everyone—no matter how small or seemingly unimportant—has value and deserves kindness.
The Surprise: The story's power lies in its reversal. The "insignificant" mouse becomes the hero, teaching children never to dismiss others based on size, age, or apparent weakness.
Social Media Alternative: Unlike platforms that amplify only the loudest voices, this story teaches children to value quiet kindness and to recognize that help can come from unexpected places.
7. "Hansel and Gretel" - Supporting Each Other Through Hardship
The Empathy Lesson: Mutual support in the face of adversity
While dark in its themes, Hansel and Gretel showcases the power of empathy between siblings facing unthinkable challenges. The children survive not through individual strength but through caring for each other—sharing bread, offering comfort, working together to escape danger.
The Resilience Factor: The story shows that empathy isn't just about feeling sorry for others—it's about actively supporting those we love through their darkest moments.
Relevance: As anxiety and depression rates soar among young people, children need to learn how to be emotional supports for their friends and siblings, not just consumers of others' content.
8. "The Fisherman and His Wife" - Understanding the Cost of Greed
The Empathy Lesson: Recognizing how selfishness hurts others
This cautionary tale builds empathy by showing the consequences of endless wanting. Readers feel compassion for the humble fisherman, tormented by his wife's insatiable demands, and learn to recognize how one person's greed can cause suffering for everyone around them.
The Modern Parallel: In a culture that promotes endless consumption and "manifesting" more stuff, children need to understand that always wanting more hurts not just ourselves but those who love us.
The Wisdom: True empathy includes recognizing when our desires might be causing pain to others and choosing contentment over endless acquisition.
9. "The Happy Prince" - Compassion for the Less Fortunate
The Empathy Lesson: Sacrificing for others who have less
Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince" teaches empathy through sacrifice. A gilded statue asks a swallow to distribute his jewels and gold to the poor, showing children what it means to prioritize others' needs over personal comfort.
The Profound Message: True joy comes not from having beautiful things but from using what we have to help others. The prince finds happiness not in his golden exterior but in his generous heart.
Counter-Cultural: In an influencer culture that equates worth with wealth and happiness with having more, this story teaches that giving away what we have—not accumulating more—leads to fulfillment.
10. "The Princess and the Pea" - Believing Others' Experiences
The Empathy Lesson: Validating others' feelings, even when they seem minor
Often misunderstood as a story about pickiness, "The Princess and the Pea" actually teaches something profound: the importance of believing and validating another person's experience, even when it seems trivial to us.
The Sensitivity Training: Only someone sensitive enough to feel a tiny pea through multiple mattresses could pass the test. The story teaches children that sensitivity—not toughness—is a virtue, and that dismissing others' feelings because they seem small to us is a failure of empathy.
Digital Age Application: Online, it's easy to minimize others' struggles because we can't see their full context. This story teaches children to take others' experiences seriously, even when they don't understand them.
Why These Stories Matter More Than Ever
The Empathy Crisis is Real
Research from the University of Michigan shows that college students today are 40% less empathetic than students from 20-30 years ago. The steepest decline has occurred since 2000—exactly when digital culture began dominating young people's social development.
What Fairy Tales Offer That Screens Cannot
Sustained Emotional Investment: Unlike the rapid-fire content of social media, fairy tales require children to sit with emotions, building their tolerance for complexity and ambiguity.
Moral Complexity: These stories don't offer simple answers but help children wrestle with difficult questions about right and wrong, justice and mercy, self and others.
Universal Experiences: While TikTok trends change weekly, the human experiences in fairy tales—fear, loneliness, love, sacrifice—remain constant across cultures and centuries.
Active Imagination: Reading or hearing these stories requires children to create mental images, voices, and emotions—building the imaginative muscles that empathy requires.
How to Bring These Stories Back
Make Story Time Sacred: Set aside daily time for reading these tales together, away from screens and distractions.
Ask Open-Ended Questions: "How do you think the duckling felt?" "What would you have done if you were Beauty?" "Why do you think the lion helped the mouse?"
Connect to Real Life: Help children recognize these patterns in their own relationships and choices.
Choose Quality Versions: Seek out beautifully illustrated editions that honor the depth and complexity of these stories rather than simplified, sanitized versions.
The Choice Before Us
Every day, our children are choosing between two types of stories: the carefully curated, filtered, instant-gratification narratives of social media, or the time-tested, emotionally complex, wisdom-rich tales that have shaped human character for millennia.
The fairy tales aren't just competing with TikTok for our children's attention—they're offering something TikTok never can: the deep, transformative experience of truly understanding what it means to be human.
In a world where empathy is declining and isolation is increasing, these ten stories offer more than entertainment. They offer a path back to our shared humanity, one tale at a time.
The question isn't whether fairy tales are still relevant. The question is whether we're brave enough to give our children something better than the shallow social media scripts that pass for wisdom today.
Once upon a time, we knew that the best way to raise empathetic children was to tell them stories that mattered. Perhaps it's time to remember that this isn't just how fairy tales begin—it's how real character development begins too.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you!