I marvel at the simple yet effective educational methods used by the ancestors.
Fairy Stories, Myths, Legends, Parables.
Easily remembered. Eagerly awaited by children of all creeds and ages. Good versus Bad. Everything is in black & white. No loopholes nor gray areas. All actions have consequences. The rules of society are clearly shown and understood. The life history of the characters is often unimportant. What is important is the decisions they make at the time the story is set. The good choose to be good. The bad choose to be bad. The characters follow their consciences. Justice is logical. Redemption can always be earnt.
The ancestors teachings gave me guidance as a child, secret enjoyment as a young adult and currently hold me in awe of their simplicity. I know who I am emulating, and when, in the stories of my childhood.
I like the good kids who believe I am some type of fairy godmother. I like Cinderella.
I have no time for the bad kids. I adore Babushka.
I believe I can do anything. I remember the Mouse saved the Lion.
I know life can be unfair but that someone dead loves me. I honour the Little Match Girl.
I give thanks to the trees. I respect Tane.
I cannot please everyone. I thank Aesop for reminding me that wisdom may be dressed in rags.
Yes, these stories are often make-believe. Sometimes they are true stories that time has embellished. Occasionally, you just can't tell!
The real world is very different. There are no castles in the sky. Good people have bad days. Bad people have good days.
This is NOT different from the time the stories were written. The 'haves' had, the 'haven'ts' hadn't. Very bad things happened to some very good people. Some very good things happened to some very bad people.
Somewhere though, the original point of the stories was forgotten. They are no longer an easily accepted form of passing on morals and idealistic dreams to the next generation. Like basic arithmetic and spelling they have become outdated.
The calculator adds.
The spell check spells.
The teacher is bound to Political Correctness.
The stories have been sanitized, no-one is offended and of course, nobody is naughty or bad -just misunderstood. The lazy parent in me considers rejoicing. I no longer have to worry that my second born will be scared (emotionally scarred) when she is naughty. Santa has coal? Babushka takes away bad kids? Not according to tv and daycare. I also need not explain to her when she is older the political history that saw witches as evil and often foreign. She need never know it happened.
Fortunately my firstborn is old enough for Harry Potter, Darren Shan and many other new 'old style' morality tales. The second born is not. I am at a loss as to the point of the new nursery rhymes and faerie tales.
Which brings me to an important point. If the purpose of this lifetime (as many have said) is to have a final release of all Kharmic debt, do we not risk increasing that debt by failing to remind our young charges that actions have consequences.
I am responsible for guiding my kids Kharmic choices whilst they are in my care. No excuses, no loopholes, exactly like the original parental contract I signed when I agreed to birth them. I am not responsible for the choice they make, I am responsible for the choices I expose them to.
Not sure what I mean? Very very simplistically, a parent gives a child a pet. What the child is shown to do with that pet is the parents responsibility. What the child chooses to do with the pet is the child's responsibility.
Many of the ancestors stories were harsh but in general they were just and fair. There was a logic to the teachings. I choose to offer my kids the original faerie stories, myths & legends from many cultures. Interestingly, witches are only 'bad' in the stories from certain countries & eras, girls were often the hero, and boys had emotions other than winning! Perhaps it was not that the Brothers Grimm & friends needed changing but that more of the stories from other eras & cultures needed to be introduced.
I will find it very intriguing in twenty years to ask my kids and their mates which childhood stories have affected their adult views on the world. I know Pokemon will be in there. I seriously doubt if any of the new versions of the faerie tales will be.
smiles
kerri-raluna (mama raluna dreams)
Mama RaLuna Dreams Community Member 
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