care, health and development
Child:
Original Article
doi:10.1111/j.1365-2214.2011.01216.x
Fairy tales: a compass for children’s healthy
development – a qualitative study in a Greek island
cch_1216
266..272
P. Tsitsani,* S. Psyllidou,* S. P. Batzios,† S. Livas,‡ M. Ouranos* and D. Cassimos§
*Department of Paediatrics, General Hospital of Kos, Kos
†First Department of Paediatrics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Hippokratio General Hospital, Thessaloniki
‡Department of Foreign Languages, Ionian University, Corfu, and
§Department of Paediatrics, Democritus University of Thrace, University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, Alexandroupolis, Greece
Accepted for publication 17 December 2010
Abstract
Keywords
children’s preferences,
fairy tales, parents’
perception, storytelling,
villains
Correspondence:
Pelagia Tsitsani,
Department of
Paediatrics, General
Hospital of Didimoteiho,
25th May 152 Street,
Didimoteiho PC 68300,
North Evros, Greece
E-mail:
pelazina@gmail.com
Background Fairy tales have always been an integrated part of children’s everyday life. In our days,
they still represent important ways of helping the children share their desires and express their
agonies and inner conflicts. The present descriptive qualitative study aims to describe parents’
opinions and children’s preferences regarding storytelling.
Methods Four hundred and seventy parents took part in the study and were interviewed
following a semi-structured guide with open-ended trigger questions. Data were processed via
content analysis methods.
Results Three main themes were constructed. The vast majority of interviewees acknowledged
their strong belief in the power of fairy tales and stated that their children listen to stories at least
once a week. Most of them use storytelling as an instructive tool, in order to soothe their children’s
anxieties or set examples for them. Concerning children’s preferences, the majority of them choose
classic fairy tales over modern ones with Little Red Riding Hood taking precedence over other
famous stories. All participants acknowledged the fact that their children are amused and positively
affected by storytelling, while young readers share their enthusiasm for fairy tales in many ways,
mostly by talking about their favourite character. Finally, in relation to the villains, children seem to
be satisfied or relieved when they are punished and only a small number of participants stated that
the cruel punishment of bad characters creates feelings of fear to their kids.
Conclusions The findings of this study emphasize the crucial role that storytelling plays in
children’s life and normal development.
Introduction
Stories have been used for centuries as means for passing
common wisdom and knowledge from one generation to the
next, stressing values and manners of the time and place in
which they were initially recorded (Zipes 1988). Founded upon
the oral tradition of village lore and country fables, modern
fairy tales can be traced back to the 18th and 19th centuries,
266
with Charles Perrault, the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian
Andersen, representing some of the most important pioneers of
this literary genre. In general, fairy tales are universal and
ageless, most of the time sharing common features and identical
themes, whereas sometimes they differ profoundly from one
culture to another (Dieckmann 1971). In their many forms,
they have such a profound meaning in our pursuit of happiness
and thus, appeal to individuals of all ages.
© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Fairy tales: a timeless value 267
For children, stories represent one of the most important
cultural and social events of their life, functioning as instruments of socialization and acculturation (Zipes 1988). From
this perspective, the meaning of fairy tales and their psychodynamic potential was first investigated only recently, during the
20th century (Heuscher 1963; Bettelheim 1976). Bettelheim
(1976) suggests that children’s literature stimulates mind and
personality development, providing young readers with the
mechanisms of coping with their inner problems, life’s stresses
and anxieties. Through mixing facts with fiction, fairy tales
promote children’s initiative and capacity for autonomy, in a
more effective manner than everyday life experience itself
(Rustin & Rustin 2003). We could compare fairy tales to compasses, which provide road maps to help children find their
pathway to love, power and privilege, while at the same time
pointing the way back to safety and serenity of their home. How
this happens, how children develop their inner mechanism of
coherently integrating events and justifying the plot of the story
measuring it to their set of moral values, is a very interesting
subject, which Ageliki Nicolopoulou (2008) developed.
Apart from the important positive effect of fairy tales in
children’s normal development, as presented in the above mentioned bibliography, storytelling has also been used as a therapeutic tool in a wide spectrum of physical and mental diseases
in children and adolescents (Fosson & Husband 1984; Freeman
1991; Krietemeyer & Heiney 1992; Stevens-Guille & Boersma
1992; Arad 2004; Konz 2006). Through the power of symbolism
and metaphor, both traditional fairy tales and modern children’s literature creations have been widely used in psychotherapy of children with mental health problems (Dieckmann
1997; Noctor 2006). Both medical practitioners and parents use
fairy tales as scientific tools in order to support children, while
storytelling is also widely used as a diagnostic utensil in developmental problems (Mazzeschi et al. 2001) and as an educational instrument for nursing students (Crawley 2009).
In the present study, we investigate current trends regarding
the use of fairy tales, parents’ opinions and children’s habits,
as well as the way all these are formed through modern family
relationships and lifestyle. Although the role of fairy tales in
various medical conditions has been extensively explored, few
studies have investigated their role in normal children, and
none, to our knowledge, has done it using qualitative methods.
Additionally, the use of qualitative methods has the advantage
of unravelling and presenting current trends and general
tendencies, in order to guide paediatricians and other professionals on child care, in relation to the use of fairy tales
and the appreciation of their role in children’s normal
development.
Methods
Participants
For the sake of this theoretical research, qualitative methods
were used, as this type of research enables deeper insight into
behaviour and attitudes, intending to uncover the range of
views and generate theory (Fielding 1992; Pope et al. 2000; Pope
& Mays 2006).
This was achieved through a combination of observation and
exploration of the ways in which people interpret the impact of
fairy tales in normal children’s development. The present
descriptive qualitative research took place at Kos, an island in the
south-eastern part of Greece, between July 2007 and February
2008. The participants were parents of healthy children between
3 and 5 years of age. They were recruited either from the outpatient clinic of Department of Paediatrics at Kos General Hospital
or from public and private day nurseries and kindergartens of the
island. Recruitment covering letters and information sheet,
explaining the purpose of the study, were distributed to eligible
subjects by clinic and school personnel. Those parents willing to
take part were contacted by a member of the research team by
telephone, in order to arrange an appointment for the interview.
A total of 548 couples were initially approached with an invitation to take part in the research. Seventy-eight refused because of
their restrained time schedule (14% non-participation ratio).
From the 470 couples that finally took part in the study, there
were no further dropouts.
Data collection
Parents who gave informed consent for their participation in
the study completed a demographic questionnaire, providing
general information concerning the age and gender of the child,
age of parents, their educational level and occupation. Three of
the authors (P. T., S. P. and M. O.) conducted interviews following a semi-structured guide with open-ended trigger questions
(Table 1). In order to establish a common definition of what
constitutes a fairy tale, researchers took into account the different scientific approaches to the term ‘fairy tale’, as well as the fact
that the research took place in a Greek island community, which
has been influenced by modernity. Reviewing the literature,
researchers bore in mind that a fairy tale is a story (between
fable and literature) with some constant traits: (i) a distant
(without chronology) past; (ii) the storyteller (whose personality plays a vital role in the children taking in the plot); (iii) a
clear start and a clear ending; and (iv) heroes and villains with
powerful characters (Bettelheim 1976; Megas 1994). That is
© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Child: care, health and development, 38, 2, 266–272
268 P. Tsitsani et al.
Table 1. Semi-structured interview guide
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Do you believe in the power of fairy tales?
How much time does your child spend away from you?
Who is with your child during that time?
How often does your child listen to fairy tales?
Who is usually playing the role of the storyteller?
What method do you employ in order to tell a fairy tale?
Do you prefer reading or narration? Please justify your answer.
Your selections of fairy tales are based on which criteria?
What kind of fairy tales does your child listen to?
What kind of fairy tales does your child prefer?
What’s your child’s favourite fairy tale?
Do you have a specific hour for storytelling?
Do you tell stories based on a specific schedule?
What do you think is the main purpose of a fairy tale?
Does your child seem pleased when you are reading a fairy tale? If so,
does he/she have a specific way of sharing his/her feelings?
What does your child think about villains?
What does your child feel when the villain is punished?
Do you consider fairy tales instructive? Justify your answer.
In what way do fairy tales affect your child?
When you were children, have you been listening to fairy tales?
why, it was explained from the beginning to parents that by the
term ‘fairy tales’ the researchers refer to classic and modern
children’s literature stories. Interacting with the parents
expanded this spectrum to: western fairy tales, folk Greek lore
and ancient Greek fables and stories out of Greek and universal
children’s literature. The contact invariably started with the
question ‘Do you believe in the power of fairy tales?’, aiming to
create a friendly environment and stimulate discussion. The
major issues covered in all conversations included parents’
opinions in relation to the use of storytelling, children’s habits
and preferences, as well as general topics related to the function
of the family and modern lifestyle trends. All interviews were
carried out at the participants’ homes, lasting 35 to 45 min.
Dialogues were audio-recorded with the permission of all participants and fully transcribed to written manuscript.
Data analysis
Thematic analysis of written transcripts took place during and
after the period of data collection through interviews. Following
a number of steps, two members of the research group (D. C.
and S. P. B.) evaluated data using the content analysis method
(Pope et al. 2000), where sentences and phrases were used as
analysis units. In brief, the two researchers read independently
all manuscripts and categorized them into similar subject areas.
Distinctive themes and recurrent patterns were coded, and
codes were placed in the margin of pages next to sentences and
phrases. Coding similarities and differences were discussed until
mutual agreement was reached. The results were discussed by all
© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Child: care, health and development, 38, 2, 266–272
members of the research team in order to achieve the final
matching and validity of categories. Data saturation was considered to have been reached when no new findings were identified from manuscripts. Analysis of data was carried out
manually and no software analysis package was used.
Results
Participants’ characteristics
The mean age of children whose parents participated in this
study was 4 years. Within this population, 51.8% were boys and
48.2% were girls. The mean age of mothers was 33.6 years,
whereas for fathers it was 37.7 years. Forty-eight per cent of
interviewees had graduated from high school, and 38.4% held
university degrees. Kos is a famous holiday destination, and
because of its touristic development, 20% of interviewees were
hoteliers, while 18% were freelancers, working in their personal
business.
Findings
The results of this study are distributed in three main
categories, as:
1 general topics about fairy tales related to family lifestyle
trends;
2 parents’ opinion in relation to the use and usefulness of fairy
tales;
3 children’s habits, attitude and preferences regarding fairy
tales.
The majority of respondents explicitly stated their belief in
the power of fairy tales. According to one mother:
. . . Many times while reading a fairy tale to my daughter,
I soon find myself engrossed in a series of imaginary
adventures involving charming kings, beautiful princesses and wicked witches . . .
General topics about fairy tales related to family
lifestyle trends
In the study, 90.8% of parents reported that their children are
separated from them during morning hours, whereas few of
them (6.2%) spend their afternoon away from home as well.
According to interviewees, only a small number of children
(2.4%) seem to be inseparable from at least one of their parents,
Fairy tales: a timeless value 269
Table 2. Reasons justifying the choice between narration and reading
Table 3. Roles of fairy tales in children’s life
Choice
Examples of quotations from respondents
Role
Examples of quotations from respondents
Narration
‘. . . Narration enables your mind to create its own pictures. It
is more creative to use your imagination and through
improvisation promotes mental development . . .’
‘. . . My son loves it. He is actively participating in the plot of
the story . . .’
‘. . . I personally prefer narration. It is amazing to use your
own skills to create a story . . . This makes the whole
process more personal . . .’
‘. . . We believe that narration is more amusing, both for us
and our daughter . . .’
‘. . . Definitely narration. You can improvise and create a story
wherever and whenever you want . . .’
‘. . . It costs nothing . . .’
‘Reading of course. It is the only way to cultivate a passion
for words and teach your child to love books . . .’
‘. . . Maria is thrilled to see all this colourful pictures. It is the
best way to draw her attention . . .’
‘. . . It is actually bizarre, but although our son does not read,
he seems to expect what is going to happen. Reading
helps him follow the plot . . .’
‘. . . It is easier for me. I can read but I can not be Hans
Christian Andersen . . .’
Instructive
‘. . . I believe that fairy tales help him to realize who he is and
what he is capable of . . .’
‘. . . She seems to realize that even in fairy tales, heroes must
fight to get what they want . . .’
‘. . . While narrating, I always incorporate ideas worthy of
emulation . . .’
‘. . . Each night she lies in her bed, cuddling her favourite toy
and listens to the stories of fairies, until she falls asleep . . .’
‘. . . There is no better way to put her back to sleep after a
nightmare . . .’
‘. . . When it’s impossible to persuade him do something, my
friend Peter Pan can always do that . . .’
‘. . . When we tell them that there is no fairy tale for tonight,
they always understand that they have done something
bad . . .’
‘. . . If you are naughty the big bad wolf is going to eat
you . . .’
‘. . . Within fairy tales she finds a moral corrective to everyday
life. You see, all these stories represent a world in which
the good is consistently rewarded and bad is consistently
punished . . .’
Reading
usually the mother. Most of children (89.8%) attend day nurseries or kindergartens and one-fourth regularly spend time with
their grandparents. Concerning storytelling, one-third of children listen to fairy tales on a daily basis, while the vast majority
of parents (95.1%) declared that their children read fairy tales at
least once a week. The role of reader/narrator is assumed by
parents (84.3%), nursery governesses (54.2%), audio-visual
material (39.3%) and grandparents (31.6%). Some children
also listen to fairy tales from their older brothers (10.5%), other
relatives and friends (3.2%).
Parents’ opinion in relation to the use and usefulness of
fairy tales
The majority of respondents (71%) usually prefer reading,
while narration and audio-visual material occupy the second
and third place in their preferences; nevertheless, reading and
narration are equally considered constructive forms of storytelling. A summary of reasons for the use of either narration or
reading emerging from the interviews is provided in Table 2.
Generally speaking, many parents who chose reading believed
that colourful images of books trigger their children’s imagination, while those who preferred narration suggested that it promotes mental development through improvisation and active
participation of their child in the whole process. Concerning
criteria for selecting a fairy tale, parents varied in their opinions.
Relaxing
Exemplary
Many (65.9%) highlighted the importance of the theme of fairy
tales, while a frequently mentioned criterion was the preference
of their child. One-fourth of parents stated that book illustration impacts on their choices, whereas a small group of
interviewees (2.3%) preferred low-cost books. Almost half of
responders (44.5%) declared that their children listen to fairy
tales following a specific time schedule, although significant per
cent (30%) read stories based on their children’s demand.
The importance of fairy tales in children’s lives is depicted
upon the various roles that storytelling plays, which are summarized in Table 3. According to this research, 66.4% of parents use
fairy tales to set examples for their children, 50% in order to
soothe their anxieties usually at bedtime, while the deprivation of
storytelling is employed as means of punishment by several
couples (15%). All participants agreed that fairy tales represent
‘instructive tools’ and identified the positive effect of storytelling
in their children’s life. While the majority of responders were
listening to fairy tales on a daily basis during their childhood
(79.5%), they admitted that as parents they dedicate less time
than they would actually want, in telling stories to their children.
Children’s habits, attitude and preferences related to
fairy tales
Concerning children’s preferences, 80.6% of parents reported
that their children choose classic fairy tales over modern ones,
with Little Red Riding Hood accorded a far precedent position
© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Child: care, health and development, 38, 2, 266–272
270 P. Tsitsani et al.
over other famous stories. Almost half of participants recognized that they usually choose the stories their children listen to;
this fact was clearly depicted in the words of one mother who
quoted ‘. . . I know what is the best for my child . . .’ . Almost all
children ask for fairy tales on a daily basis, while half of them
prefer to hear the same story repeated several times. All participants acknowledged the fact that their children are amused and
positively affected by fairy tales. The basic way for children to
share their enthusiasm for fairy tales is to speak about their
beloved characters and narrate parts of their favourite story
while they are engaged in other activities (90%). Following storytelling with devotion, participating actively and correcting
mistakes of parents while reading their favourite fairy tales, are
frequently mentioned patterns used by children in order to
express excitement. Concerning the villains of fairy tales, most
of children do not seem afraid of them but are instead satisfied
or relieved when they are punished; nevertheless, 30.4% of
parents stated that their children show sympathy for the eventual fate of wicked characters. Finally, 15.2% of parents motivated by concern for their children claimed that the cruel
punishment of evil characters created feelings of fear to their
children. No differences were observed concerning children’s
choices or preferences in any question, in relation to gender.
Discussion
This study offers a qualitative account of current trends regarding fairy tales and highlights their great significance in children’s life. Although few scientists argue whether traditional
fairy tales still have any value or interest for modern children,
most researchers acknowledge that storytelling provides not
only entertainment, but also a creative way to help children
form a clear picture of themselves in order to be able to understand others and develop meaningful relationships with them
(Noctor 2006).
The findings from this study support a dual notion: (i) that
fairy tales are of great importance in a child’s life and (ii) that
most parents wholeheartedly share this perception. This is clearly
depicted by the fact that the majority of parents read fairy tales to
their children at least once a week, while an important per cent of
25% chooses to narrate stories on a daily basis. Regarding storytelling, parents, although separated daily from their children for
several hours, still play the central role, while grandparents seem
to be less involved in the process. Grandmothers have traditionally been the main storytellers, a fact that was often captured in
the illustrations of fairy tale books (Macnab & Langlois 2006).
Despite the reluctance of some parents, almost 40% of them
seem to use audio-visual material, mostly because today’s gen-
© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Child: care, health and development, 38, 2, 266–272
eration of children is accustomed to multimedia-rich environments. The advancing technology affected literature and with the
rise of the cinema, the fairy tale film became one of the most
popular cultural commodities worldwide (Zipes 1997). Nowadays, children are continually exposed to stories through reading,
but fairy tale films seem to take precedence over literature,
especially through television (Zipes 1997).
Concerning narration and reading, the majority of interviewees considered them equally important, although most of
parents preferred reading. The richness of the language and the
enthusiasm of the reader are of great importance, while the
method of storytelling does not affect any of these factors (High
et al. 2000). Parents are now ‘grown-ups’, and through storytelling, they rediscover hidden aspects and qualities of themselves.
Fairy tales hold the key to their forgotten world of truth and
innocence: ‘I want to be what I used to be, when I was like
you . . . Most of all, I want to relearn how to laugh . . .’ (Once
upon a time, a poem by Gabriel Okara).
In relation to the purpose of storytelling, most parents put
emphasis on the use of stories as instructive tools. This is in
agreement with the notion that the main purpose of the tale
from the beginning was to instruct, as fairy tales were intended
to provide models of behaviour and implicit rules of pedagogization for the rearing of children (Zipes 1988). Concerning their
exemplary role, it is widely accepted that when a story includes
a character that readers can relate to or admire, then the
message communicated from the writer and the parent can be
easily understood by the child (Fosson & Husband 1984).
Finally, fairy tales are known for their ‘bedtime manner’ for
centuries, and it is not surprising that many parents use them in
order to relax and help their children deal with separation
anxiety, which is at its peak before sleep (Lubetsky 1989).
Our results demonstrate that children prefer classic fairy tales
over modern ones. Little Red Riding Hood was the favourite
fairy tale in this study, although this particular story was demonstrated to appeal to school-aged children in previous studies
(Lubetsky 1989). In addition, a rather unexpected result of this
research was that no differences were found concerning the
preferences of children in relation to gender, something that
probably reflects a new trend, which is also obvious in modern
children’s literature. Modern stories do not use as much stereotyped presentations as classic fairy tales do (Turkel 2002).
Despite the fact that fairy tales have the purpose of giving life
to a child’s point of view, parents seem to impose their preferences in relation to the choice of the theme. Storytelling is an
experience to be shared between parents and children; nevertheless, children should always play the leading role in choosing
a story, as well as in determining the conditions under which
Fairy tales: a timeless value 271
they listen to it in order to gain meaning from it (Lubetsky
1989). All parents agreed on the positive effect of fairy tales and
quoted several behavioural patterns that their children exhibit
in order to share their enthusiasm. A statement captured in
many interviews is that most of children speak about their
favourite heroes showing their admiration. Current literature
critics suggest that the image of a fairy tale hero corresponds to
the image of the world that a child has, and thus fairy tales
represent a literary genre concerned with finding solutions and
developing the ‘self ’ (Hammon 1992). As far as villains are
concerned, the majority of children seem to be relieved when
they are punished. To date, it remains unclear whether frightening stories lead to relief or provoke anxiety to young readers
(Orbach et al. 1993); nevertheless, according to previous
studies, the punishment of evil characters is well tolerated and
does not seem to have a pathological effect upon children
(Trousdale 1989). Fairy tales deal constantly with the struggle
between ‘good’ and ‘evil’. The victory of good is of great importance so that children can eventually deal with their own fears
(Trousdale 1989). Finally, concerning the sympathy that several
children show towards the villains, this is probably because of
the fact that for many children those characters work as symbolic representations of parts of their selves and represent the
internal struggle between good and evil (Noctor 2006).
A limitation of this study is that the interview methodology
used did not comprise a sample of children, in order to obtain
detailed information on their thoughts and opinions. Thus, we
assumed that parents’ opinions in relation to children’s habits,
attitudes and preferences resonate with their children’s opinions. Another limitation is that results may have been biased by
the fact that most parents that agreed to participate were likely
to be well disposed towards fairy tales.
Conclusions
The findings of this study emphasize the crucial role that storytelling plays in children’s life, touching upon sensitive chords
of the temper of our times. Modern children must get their
share of fairy tales in order to begin their ‘self-discovery voyage’.
As Bettelheim (1976) excellently stated ‘each fairy tale is a magic
mirror which reflects some aspects of our inner world, and of
the steps required by our evolution from immaturity to maturity. This is one of the manifold truths revealed by fairy tales,
which can guide our lives; it is a truth as valid today as it was
once upon a time’. Fundamental universal values and principles,
such as courage, bravery, honesty and sincerity, can find,
through storytelling, a safe conduct to children’s souls, thus
influencing their future behaviour and their way of life.
Key messages
• Fairy tales and family bonding.
• Personality building and behavioral education through
storytelling.
• Self-recognition prototypes in fairy tales.
• Values and principles find, through storytelling, a safe
conduct to children’s souls.
• Fairy tales are a timeless value.
Conflict of interests
The authors state no conflict of interests.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the help of clinic and
school personnel and thank all the participating families.
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