Text/Yan Pengfei
Audit/Cui Song
The full text is 1923 words, and it takes about 6 minutes to read.
The recent news that Aesop's Fables was complained about by parents has attracted a lot of attention.
After seeing the story of "Snakes and Crabs Living Together" above, a Shanghai citizen thought that it would leave a great psychological shadow on the child, so he called the 12345 complaint number. After reading through the whole book, he believed that the fable book was full of dark fairy tales, which would bring irreparable negative effects to the healthy growth of children, and asked for the complete removal of the book.
Here is an excerpt from the fable:
...... The crab is very angry about the snake's insidiousness and evil, but because it lives together, the crab is not good at attacking it, but as soon as it has time, it will persuade the snake:
"Big Brother Snake, you can't be too sinister and evil as a person, you must learn to be straightforward and kind, otherwise you will suffer losses."
How could a snake listen to a crab? After a long time, the crab really couldn't stand it, and on this day, when the snake was asleep again, it stretched out two large pliers and clamped the throat of the snake deadly, and in a short while it strangled the snake to death. Seeing the snake lying there straight, the crab said:
"Friend. Now that you're dead, you don't need me to persuade you to be blunt and kind anymore. But when I advise you, why don't you listen? ”
What are parents really worried about?
After seeing this news, many netizens said: The traditional four famous works are trembling.
"Water Margin", fighting, violent reaction, can not stay;
"Journey to the West", animals become sperm, gangs and factions, can not stay;
"Dream of the Red Chamber", male feminine, female heart, can not stay;
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms", scheming, sinister and despicable, can not stay.
According to the logic of a small number of parents, there are almost no books that children can read. In the name of the child's good, but the child is trapped in a sterile greenhouse.
Think about it carefully, parents are guarding against microaggressions, the wind is whispering, what are they worried about in the book?
1. Fear that the child will imitate the behavior
As we have discussed before, Happy Goat and Ultraman were removed because their parents complained about their children's imitation behavior.
Children will also imitate things seen in books, such as smashing cylinders, cutting down trees, and smashing vases.
Children in ordinary life are already mischievous enough, and reading these books is not even more intense.
2. Afraid of children afraid of leaving psychological shadows
Just like the story of the snake and crab above, words such as "pinch the throat" and "strangle to death", the well-known story of Little Red Riding Hood, the big bad wolf "swallowing" grandma in one bite, deeply stabbed the hearts of some parents. They worry that these episodes will make the child afraid and leave a psychological shadow.
3. Fear that children will go astray because of content sensitivity
Some books have a certain challenge in the understanding and discussion of love, marriage, sex, and death for children or parents.
Whether to let the child read, what age the child can read, and how the parents should interpret the relevant content are all problems that the parents can not grasp well.
Books are a mirror of the real multifaceted world
Literary works themselves have qualities that reflect reality, as do fairy tales.
There is truth, goodness and beauty of Snow White, which represents innocence, goodness, and good qualities, and there are witches, monsters, and demons, representing the characteristics of evil and darkness.
Children need to be safe, comfortable, and warm, but the diversity and complexity of the world let us know that life is not only happy, but also dark, parting and even death, and children also need to understand.
Fairy tales are more like a bridge between ideals and reality, so that children know that there are not only happiness in real life, but also tears, regrets and sadness, which is of great significance for children to understand the real world and better face the real world in the future.
Children's cognition evolves with age. Many stories with profound meaning and thinking are in line with the level of children's cognitive development, which can help children understand the world more comprehensively and three-dimensionally, understand the world, and develop themselves.
For young children, reading the story of the Trojan horse is conducive to developing different cognitions of difficulties and understanding the contrast between "brute force" and "ingenuity".
For the older child, discussing who to save a famous painting and a cat in a fire can also teach him about moral dilemmas and difficulties in choosing.
As a parent, do not blindly consider the story from the perspective of an adult, the child's cognitive level is still in the development stage, and the choices he makes may have a variety of strange reasons, and it is not easy to judge by acknowledging values.
Parents should be the "goalkeeper" of their children's reading
Access to children's literature needs to be reviewed, which needs to be determined by authoritative institutions and relevant experts, and many children's books are also marked as recommended for children to read.
However, it is true that there will be some pirated books on the market, and problems such as inaccurate translations, inconsistent versions, and differences in content may indeed exist.
Therefore, the first door that parents keep is to select books for children's age and buy them through formal channels.
The second door that parents keep is what kind of books to read.
In fact, in my opinion, what kind of books to read to children does not need to be too entangled. Because I think the power of a book is far from great enough to change a person's nature.
Therefore, parents should not use a book as a good medicine, entrusting him with a heavy responsibility so that he can give his child a strong educational significance and solve his child's various problems.
Parents are advised to read books to their children before reading them, mainly considering whether they are in line with their children's comprehension and acceptance.
The third door that parents keep is what kind of thinking children will think after reading.
Books are more important than the educational significance of reading, so that children can think.
After reading the book, you can discuss the content of the book with your child.
"Which of the characters in the book do you like the most", "Why do you like this character, what attracts you", "What are the most impressive fragments of your book", "Briefly describe this fragment".
Discussions of these questions can deepen children's thinking about shaping characters and content. Parents should also be more open to guidance, not only to evaluate the simple good and bad, but also to discuss the process of character development with children from the background, purpose, motivation, etc. of the role.
Author: Yan Pengfei, Medical Social Worker, Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, MSW, Shanghai University, Intermediate Social Worker, Grade II Psychological Counselor.