Childhood without fairy tales is not childhood. Nothing replaces the moments when a mother reads her baby a bedtime story. The child will remember this for the rest of his life. But listening to fairy tales is not only interesting, but, it turns out, is also very useful! Fairy tales can heal a huge number of child’s whims, fears, as well as experiences associated with the loss of relatives or the appearance of a new family member.
Why do fairy tales have such an impact on children?
A fairy tale is clearer for a child than moral teachings and admonitions. She instills faith in the best, helps to find a solution in a difficult situation, to build relationships with people. The fairy tale forms the child’s idea of justice, love, friendship, good and evil. Listening to a fairy tale, the child truly experiences its events together with the characters.
What is the difference between fairy tale therapy and ordinary fairy tales?
Recently, psychologists have begun to actively resort to such a method as fairy tale therapy… In this case, not just well-known literary tales are used, but they are selected or composed for a specific child and for solving one specific problem.
Despite the fact that fairy tale therapy is a method of psychotherapists and psychologists, parents can also adopt this technique. It’s not difficult at all, but it gives amazing results! Don’t worry if you don’t know how to come up with dashingly twisted plots: this is not required at all. You are the best fairy tale therapist for your kid, because no one except you knows his problems and experiences so well. And for help in writing, you can always turn to books and the Internet, read other fairy tales on this topic, and then come up with your own.
How to use fairy tale therapy correctly?
- Determine the main topic on which you will communicate with your child. What is your problem? It can be anything: the child is afraid of the dark, throws toys, fights, swears with parents, does not want to go to kindergarten, offends the cat.
- Coming up with a hero of a fairy tale. If at first he was “bad” (he was a bully, fought, did not obey), then it should not be your child. Let the main character be just like your son or daughter. You make your child the protagonist if you endow the hero with the quality that you want to instill in him (for example, he is very polite or protector of all the weak).
Details are important. Try to describe as accurately as possible the surrounding reality, character, habits of the child.
Now – the plot. It should be simple. For example, the hero did something wrong, which greatly upset those around him. A fairy came and somehow punished him. The hero realized his mistakes, corrected himself, he was disenchanted, and everyone was happy, especially his parents.
Important points of fairy tale therapy for children, which should be remembered
- In order for the fairy tale to work, it is advisable to tell it more than once. You can come up with several fairy tales on the same topic.
- But do not overdo it, do not use therapeutic tales too often, as they may lose their effectiveness.
- When composing fairy tales, don’t forget about humor. Let jokes be in your fairy tales, so they are better perceived by the child. In addition, jokes bring parents and children closer together.
However, well-known folk and author’s artistic tales can also help to correct the child’s behavior. Don’t forget about them!
For example:
- a child who loves to lie about trifles should read the fairy tale “Bouncer Hare”;
- frivolous and playful – “The Adventures of Dunno”;
- it will be useful for a selfish and greedy kid to listen to the fairy tale “About the Fisherman and the Fish”;
- timid and fearful – the tale of the “Cowardly Hare”, etc.
Just do not explicitly point out the similarity of the hero with the child – the baby will draw conclusions himself. Just discuss the story together.
Try to solve the child’s age problems with the help of therapeutic fairy tales, without resorting to such an ineffective method as punishment. Good luck on your fabulous journey!