Children's Stories

Children's stories have come a long way in the last fifty years. Or have they? Some of the best children's stories are the same ones we heard when we were young. They have become classics and we pass them down to our children and their children, and every generation that follows.

There are the sweet kinds of children's stories, where the main characters have adventures but are never really in danger of any kind. Then there are the other kinds of children's stories that involve terrible monsters, witches, and evil stepmothers whose sole purpose is to murder the main character, which often is a child. The good thing about these stories is that they almost always seem to have a happy ending. The evil characters are defeated or punished in some way that was cleverly devised by our small heroes. These stories are actually packed with lessons for children. They try to teach children that good always wins over evil, and that no evil goes unpunished in the end. The most important lesson they teach children is that even the smallest person can be empowered, and do great things. Things that maybe even big grownup people couldn't do. With all the real evils in the world it is important for a child to know that they don't have to be silent or helpless if they should cross paths with evil in their own lives.

Modern children's stories seem to follow the same formula as the classics, but there are parents who object to the evil and violence. Even the short children's stories that we call nursery rhymes were sometimes terribly violent.

Different children will like different stories, just like some adults prefer one genre over another. Reading a child a story is a must for every parent or caregiver. It brings you closer together, and teaches the child the most important lesson a story could, the love of reading.