enchanted fairytales

have you seen the movie enchanted? i really loved it! it was a magical one hour plus in the cinema, and i was sad when it ended.

i know many people might not share my love for such movies that are all about good winning evil, happily ever afters and beautiful things. but anyway i like it =) (so did mel) it did get me thinking, though - some would even say it's bad to watch such stuff, and for children to be 'indoctrinated' with fairytales, because it's just too ideal and unrealistic.

well, i wouldn't indoctrinate my kid in fairytales for sure... but then again, i think fairytales are SO powerful, and i DON'T think they are evil or deceptive in teaching children the wrong truths about reality. i mean, sure you don't want your kid to grow up thinking santa claus really exists, or that the little hole in the wall might house a whole family of fairies... but to start them off by saying "there is no such thing as magic" is kinda extreme.

the world of fairytales, to me, brings with it a lesson of faith, of trust, of the power of good, of the power of love. and there's often something 'magical' about how things work out. i really do think these are great ideas for kids to have. NOT to the extreme that they start delviing into sorcery and black magic and all that stuff, but in the sense that it gives them handles for understanding how trust works (like how the damsel in distress is ALWAYS confident that her prince will come for her) and that dreams can and do come true. And if you don't even have that hope in the first place, how do you expect your kids to ever work towards their dreams, if all they can see is the 'harsh reality of life'?

kids will grow up eventually. and parents and schools have a big role to play in that process. but along the way, let's not steal the joy of childhood from them, or rob them of the chance to imagine a world that is beyond this one, while they still can.