You Cannot Have Sex Education Without Saying

A Child... Who Has Learned From Fairy Stories To Believe That What At First Seemed A Repulsive, Threatening Figure Can Magically Change Into A Most Helpful Friend Is Ready To Believe That A Strange Child Whom He Meets And Fears May Also Be Changed From A Menace Into A Desirable Companion.

Not Only Is Our Love For Our Children Sometimes Tinged With Annoyance, Discouragement, And Disappointment, The Same Is True For The Love Our Children Feel For Us.

Although We Like To Think Of Young Children's Lives As Free Of Troubles, They Are In Fact Filled With Disappointment And Frustration. Children Wish For So Much, But Can Arrange So Little Of Their Own Lives, Which Are So Often Dominated By Adults Without Sympathy For The Children's Priorities. That Is Why Children Have A Much Greater Need For Daydreams Than Adults Do. And Because Their Lives Have Been Relatively Limited They Have A Greater Need For Material From Which To Form Daydreams.

This Is Exactly The Message That Fairy Tales Get Across To The Child In Manifold Form: That A Struggle Against Severe Difficulties In Life Is Unavoidable, Is An Intrinsic Part Of Human Existence -- But That If One Does Not Shy Away, But Steadfastly Meets Unexpected And Often Unjust Hardships, One Masters All Obstacles And At The End Emerges Victorious.

Punishment May Make Us Obey The Orders We Are Given, But At Best It Will Only Teach An Obedience To Authority, Not A Self-control Which Enhances Our Self-respect.