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Why Kids Need Fairy Tales: How Classic Stories Build a Child’s Moral Imagination
Should parents read fairy tales to their kids — even the dark ones? Wicked stepmothers, witches, and a huntsman sent to bring back a heart can make any parent pause. Some families avoid fairy tales altogether because they feel too scary, too gory, or even too pagan.
In this episode of The Christy-Faith Show, homeschool expert Christy-Faith sits down with her friend Andrew Pudewa, founder and director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW), to talk about why kids need fairy tales. Christy-Faith, an education and parenting expert with over 20 years of experience, has read aloud to her four kids for years, fairy tales included. Together, she and Andrew explore how these old stories build a child’s moral imagination, why they don’t shy away from evil, and how parents can choose the right stories for their family. As Andrew puts it, paraphrasing G.K. Chesterton: children already know dragons exist — fairy tales teach them that dragons can be slain.
Why Reading Aloud to Children Matters So Much
Andrew Pudewa was one of the early voices pushing a simple idea more than 25 years ago: if you want good readers, good writers, and good speakers, reading aloud to your children is the most important thing you can do every day. Christy-Faith has seen it firsthand. Years after she read Beowulf aloud to a room of seventh graders, former students — now married with babies on their hips — still told her they remembered it. Even kids who seem “too cool” for read-aloud time remember the stories.
That’s why Christy-Faith builds read-aloud time into every medieval history lesson she teaches at her co-op. The goal isn’t just to cover content. It’s to ignite a child’s imagination.
What Is the Moral Imagination?
Andrew explains that the term “moral imagination” was first published by Russell Kirk. It’s the ability to picture the right thing to do in a given situation — Should I do this? Would I do that? — first for yourself, then for your family and community. And we learn it through stories, because stories are where characters make decisions and decisions have consequences.
Andrew even goes so far as to say there may be more truth in fairy tales than in history books, since history books are always written by someone with an agenda. Christy-Faith, who holds two degrees in history, agrees that the story is what changes us. When our emotions are captured, we remember more and learn the lesson more deeply. That’s why homeschool families love living books, even for history.
What Makes a Story a Fairy Tale?
Most of us know Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel, whether or not we’ve read the older versions by the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, or Hans Christian Andersen. According to Andrew, a fairy tale brings us into touch with the mysterious side of life. It lets us touch what we can’t see. A fairy, by nature, is invisible, and in these stories it stands in for the supernatural — the angelic, the demonic, and the unseen part of our reality.
These stories didn’t start with Grimm or Perrault. They were passed down for hundreds of years before anyone wrote them down, carrying the morality of Western Christian civilization from one generation to the next.
Are Fairy Tales Too Scary for Kids?
Many of the original fairy tales are dark, and some were never meant for children. But Andrew points out that children already know evil exists. You can’t hide that from them, and nothing is gained by throwing out the whole category. Christy-Faith adds that because fairy tales are so far removed from real life, they give kids a safe, age-appropriate way to sort out good and evil in their own minds.
Andrew’s advice for parents: use your own judgment. Two kids the same age can hear the same story and react completely differently, so age, personality, and circumstance all matter. Don’t read a story you aren’t comfortable reading. He shares that he waited to read Greek myths to his own children until around age six or seven.
Why Good Literature for Kids Doesn’t Avoid Hard Things
A hundred and fifty years ago, children were familiar with death because it was a normal part of life. Andrew explains that as death became less common in everyday experience, it was also edited out of children’s books. But life will bring hard things, and stories give children a way to “pre-experience” them in their imagination. Hansel and Gretel, or the modern A Series of Unfortunate Events, let children wrestle with one of their deepest fears — being left alone — from one safe step away.
Christy-Faith sees the same thing with living books in history. A moving story about something heartbreaking can draw a child in emotionally without traumatizing them, because of that distance. In the effort to protect kids from every discomfort, she and Andrew agree, we can end up making them fragile.
Fairy Tales for Christian Kids: Why Good Always Wins
In a classic fairy tale, good is good, evil is evil, and the good wins in the end. Characters face a problem and have to use what they’ve got — their wits, their courage, their friends, and often supernatural help, like Cinderella’s fairy godmother. Andrew points to Vigen Guroian’s Tending the Heart of Virtue, which argues that these stories are fundamentally Christian because they point to a supernatural world where good always defeats evil. They also teach the four cardinal virtues: prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice.
Christy-Faith believes we’re designed to love stories that echo the ultimate story. Andrew agrees, and adds a striking thought: we can’t really believe something we can’t first imagine. Fairy tales stretch a child’s imagination — and with it, their capacity for faith.
Screens, Disney, and Protecting Your Child’s Imagination
When a child reads a book, they create the faces, the scenes, and the landscapes in their own mind. A movie does all of that for them. Andrew explains that screens can overwrite a child’s imagination, which is why he recommends that kids hear a story at least a few times before ever watching the movie version. That first impression is the most powerful one.
If your family does watch Disney, Andrew suggests choosing the oldest versions you can, like the original Snow White, and skipping newer films such as Frozen, which he says twists Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen. Christy-Faith notes that simple, older animation works a lot like a picture-book illustration — it leaves room for a child’s imagination to fill in the rest.
⭐ New to Homeschooling? Start with Episode 101 — the New Homeschooler Series is the best place to begin.
Resources Mentioned
- Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) — the writing program Christy-Faith’s family and co-op use
- Fairy Tales and the Moral Imagination — Andrew Pudewa’s talk on why fairy tales matter
- The Tale of Snow White and the Widow Queen — Andrew’s favorite fairy tale book, by Jonathan Pageau
- Tending the Heart of Virtue — Vigen Guroian on how classic stories awaken a child’s moral imagination
- The Mysteries of Life in Children’s Literature — Mitchell Kalpakgian’s guide to books that inspire a love of life
- Theo of Golden — the novel by Allen Levi that Christy-Faith and Andrew both love
- The Princess and the Goblin — George MacDonald’s classic, one of Christy-Faith’s favorites, free to read online
- The Christy-Faith List — Find homeschool-friendly businesses and providers
- Thrive Homeschool Community — Christy-Faith’s membership community for homeschool moms
📚 Looking for more free resources? Find all of Christy-Faith’s freebies — including Curriculum Recommendations, Homeschool Style Finder, and Sample Schedules — at christy-faith.com/#freebies
Related Episodes
If this episode resonated with you, you’ll also want to listen to:
- Benefits of Reading Aloud to Kids – Even After They Can Read — Why read-aloud time still matters long after your kids learn to read on their own. Listen here
- The Beauty of Living Books vs Boring Textbooks — How living books bring subjects like history to life for your kids. Listen here
- How to Reduce Screen Time for Kids — And Why Homeschoolers Already Have the Answer — A practical look at screens and what they crowd out of childhood. Listen here
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are fairy tales important for kids?
According to Christy-Faith, homeschool expert and host of The Christy-Faith Show, stories capture a child’s emotions in a way facts alone can’t, and that’s what makes their lessons stick. Her guest Andrew Pudewa, founder of the Institute for Excellence in Writing, explains that fairy tales build a child’s moral imagination — the ability to picture the right thing to do. As he puts it, paraphrasing G.K. Chesterton, children already know dragons exist; fairy tales teach them that dragons can be slain.
Should Christian parents read fairy tales to their kids?
Christy-Faith, a homeschool expert with over 20 years of experience in education, and Andrew Pudewa both say yes. Andrew explains that classic fairy tales point to the supernatural — an unseen world where good and evil are real and good always wins in the end — a case Vigen Guroian makes in Tending the Heart of Virtue. Christy-Faith adds that we are designed to love stories that echo the ultimate story.
Are fairy tales too scary for children?
According to Christy-Faith, fairy tales are far enough removed from real life that kids can work through good and evil in an age-appropriate way. Andrew Pudewa notes that children already know evil exists, so throwing out the whole category gains nothing. He encourages parents to use their own judgment, since two kids the same age can react very differently to the same story, and to skip any story they aren’t comfortable reading aloud.
What age should kids start reading fairy tales and myths?
There’s no single right age, because personality and circumstance matter as much as age. On The Christy-Faith Show, Andrew Pudewa shares that he waited to read Greek myths to his own children until around age six or seven, when they could understand that the ancients called these beings “gods” because they didn’t yet know the real God. Christy-Faith encourages parents to trust their instincts and choose stories that fit their child.
Is it okay to let kids watch Disney versions of fairy tales?
Andrew Pudewa recommends that kids hear the original story first, because a child’s first impression is the most powerful and a movie can overwrite the pictures they build in their own mind. If families do watch Disney, he suggests older films like the original Snow White over newer ones such as Frozen. Homeschool expert Christy-Faith notes that simple, older animation works more like a picture-book illustration, leaving room for a child’s imagination.
About Our Guest
Andrew Pudewa is the founder and director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing. Presenting around the world, he addresses issues relating to teaching, writing, thinking, and spelling with clarity, insight, practical experience, and humor. His seminars for parents, students, and teachers have helped transform many a reluctant writer and have equipped educators with powerful tools to dramatically improve students’ skills.
👉 iew.com
About Christy-Faith
Christy-Faith is a homeschool expert, author, speaker, and the host of The Christy-Faith Show — the podcast for homeschool moms who take their craft seriously. With over 20 years of experience in education, a master’s degree, and a background founding and directing one of the country’s top private learning centers, Christy-Faith has advised everyone from everyday families to A-list celebrities and billionaires on their children’s education. She is the author of Homeschool Rising: Shattering Myths, Finding Courage, and Opting Out of the School System, the founder of the Thrive Homeschool Community, and the creator of the Christy-Faith List — a free directory of homeschool-friendly businesses and providers. A homeschool mom of four, she reaches over 400,000 followers across social media and has built one of the largest and most trusted voices in the homeschool movement.
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