Questioning the Fairy Tale.

I was thinking about the stories we read to children, and how often there’s a prince or fairy godmother who rides or flies to the rescue. I wondered whether it’s a good idea to condition kids to the notion of being rescued.

As a kid there’s a good chance you’ll be rescued by your parents if you get into difficulty, but you don’t spend much of your life being a kid. Eventually you have to grow up, and then when you get into difficulty you mostly have to either sort it yourself, suffer while it lasts, learn to live with it, or go under. Princes and fairy godmothers are in painfully short supply in the world of the grown ups.

On the other hand, maybe it’s a good thing to condition kids to the idea of being princes and fairy godmothers themselves when they grow up. That way, those who are or become wealthy might be inclined to use that wealth as the basis for a career in helping the less fortunate and those who get into difficulty. Do I see any widespread evidence of that happening?

Erm…

I think the answer to the question has to be that the human race probably isn’t ready for princes and fairy godmothers yet.