Fairy tales help kids spin magic

ONCE UPON A time, there were wolves who ate grandmas, pigs who built houses and frogs who could became princes with one magic kiss.

Then children became more sophisticated and lost their need for fairy tales.

Or did they?

Today's children may need the magic of fairy tales even more than their parents did, says Bette Bosma, author of "Fairy Tales, Fables, Legends and Myths: Using Folk Literature in Your Classroom" (Teachers College Press, Columbia) and professor emerita at Calvin College in Michigan.

"My feeling is that today's children are submerged in the real world, often to the exclusion of magical escape into fantasy. The general TV fantasy is often reduced to banalities; it fails to stimulate children to think beyond what they are seeing and hearing into spinning their own magic," she says.

Research shows that children deprived of fantasy may develop nightmares and suffer emotional delays, Bosma says.

"Fairy tales are very much part of a child's growing up. The need to include such ageless fantasy is as necessary, perhaps more so, as it was in any of the preceding generations," she says.

"The stories are part of our collective consciousness. We can reinterpret and modernize them, but the basic story is timeless and deals with really fundamental human experiences," adds San Francisco storyteller Denyse Adida. And they have happy endings.

Part of the fun of fairy tales is that they can be re-created in many ways without altering their message, she said. When Ms. Adida tells "The Three Little Pigs," she makes the smart pig a girl. And when her Little Red Riding Hood realizes that Grandma's sharp teeth spell trouble, she grabs the phone and dials 911.

Fairy tales do more than enchant, says Lambert Baker of United States International University in San Diego. They teach timeless values, such as the importance of listening to one's parents ("Little Red Riding Hood") or working together for a common goal ("The Little Red Hen").

"Fairy tales are relevant because they say something important. Look at Cinderella, at her attributes. It's a case of good triumphing over evil."

Although the first children's fairy tale books were created in the 19th century, the oral stories have seemingly always existed. There are more than 300 variations on the Cinderella theme, from almost as many cultures, proof of the human need for fantasy, Dr. Baker says.