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, mould 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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