Politically correct parents ditch 'offensive' traditional fairy tales

Politically correct parents ditch 'offensive' traditional fairy tales

By Claire Ellicott
Last updated at 10:34 PM on 05th January 2009

For most, they are innocent tales that define childhood.

But some parents are ditching fairytales, believing they are politically incorrect or 'too dark' to read to children, a survey has found.

One in four mothers has abandoned the likes of Cinderella and Rapunzel in favour of The Gruffalo or The Very Hungry Caterpillar, written in 1969 by Eric Carle.


Parents have ditched 'scary' and 'offensive' classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for modern children stories like The Gruffalo

One in ten parents even said Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs should be re-titled - because 'the dwarf reference is not PC'.

Rapunzel is considered 'too dark' and Cinderella outdated, because she is forced to do the housework.



The poll of 3,000 British parents, carried out by TheBabyWebsite.com, revealed 66 per cent believe traditional fairytales have stronger morality messages than modern equivalents.

But many feel they are inappropriate to soothe youngsters before bed.

Most of the tales were made popular by the brothers Grimm in their Grimms' Fairy Tales, published in 1812.

However many were around long before that, including a version of Snow White from the Middle Ages and a Cinderella story first told in Ancient Greece.

A spokesman for TheBabyWebsite.com said: 'Fairytales take children to a land of makebelieve where they can use their imaginationsand where generally the goodies beat the baddies.

'Children love being read a variety of stories and it's a great shame that so many of today's PC mums and dads are rejecting fairytales which have stood the test of time, entertaining children for hundreds or thousands of years.'

A fifth of parents said fairytales were no longer politically correct, while 17 per cent worried they would give their children nightmares.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1105662/Politically-correct-parents-ditch-offensive-traditional-fairy-tales.html