“Through anthroposophy you learn once more to believe in legends, fairy tales and myths, for they express a higher truth in imaginative pictures.” – Steiner, The Kingdom of Childhood Lecture Five
During handwork training this weekend, we discussed storytelling in first and second grade. The quote above was immediately brought to mind.
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is a true discomfort in adults surrounding fairy tales, legends and myths. A worry about the violence, the dark themes, the scary imagery. They often say their children had quite emotional reactions to these stories. Reactions of fear and worry.
I do think modern children are more sensitive to these tales for two possible reasons.
The first being that in media geared towards children, from books to video, often depict social situations where everyone is caring or everything always works out in a positive way, even when there is upheaval. And the adult intellect agrees with these depictions because we want our children to believe that everything will work out in the end!
The second is that adults themselves are uncomfortable with these tales and the children know it. And when the children feel an adult is uncomfortable, they take that on themselves as well.
⭐We tell fairy tales to children because they depict archetypes of human behaviour.
⭐We tell fables to depict animals with these archetypal human qualities.
⭐We tell of saints and heroes to create an image of transformation in the human being.
⭐We tell of legends to create an image of human beings on a journey (because aren’t we all? And aren’t children especially?)
These stories build in the child’s imagination what it means to be human. It gives them the space to practice and try on all the feelings these stories bring, without actually having to live through it. That is an important part of development.
Try on these stories yourself, again, and leave space for the soul to come through and not the intellect. Be okay with the feelings they bring up. See what happens.
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