Fairy Tales - An introduction to the stories I tell my daughter and an idea for how you might share them

Background

Since my daughter was born, like many dads, I would sing to her to help her sleep. I had no trouble with remembering the melodies of songs, however I could not reliably remember the words. Instead of singing gibberish, which tended to mess with the general ambiance, I started to sing number sequences to the different melodies instead. It seemed to work for both of us.

When she was about a year and a half old, Kelyn was going through a phase of not going to sleep. She just wanted to play and her mind was too active to relax. On one occasion, I was singing her some numbers when I had an idea and instead, sung her a very basic fairy tale in which she was the main character. It honestly seemed to blow her mind, she absolutely loved it. Thereafter, I was getting requests for fairy songs every night. Unfortunately, I quickly found out that it was impossible to sing a nice melody whilst making up an interesting fairy tale on the spot. Preparation was out of the question as I never have any time. Then I had a revelation. Why am I singing these tales? This is crazy. I'll just speak the stories in the normal manner. This proved better for everyone. So, we reached the situation were I am telling her fairy tales in which she is the main character almost every night.

The main point of the post

The reason I decided to make this post was because it occurred to me that lots of children like fairy tales and I imagine would enjoy being the main character. As an experiment, I decided to write this post and a summary of principal characters, objects and plots that I've invented for Kelyn. From these core components, I thought others might enjoy telling and evolving the fairy tales with their own children as the main characters. Obviously, there's nothing to stop any parent from inventing their own worlds to inspire the imaginations of their children and I'm sure they do. However, it's not necessarily the simplest task so a little help might be appreciated!

Summary of core fairy tale components

We are fortunate enough to have a small garden in which the majority of the stories begin. The fairies live in the remains of a large cherry tree that is in the centre of the garden and surrounded by wild strawberries. It's very weathered and covered in moss, lichen, mushrooms and fairy lights (at night) which really lends itself to the idea that it could harbor a fairy kingdom! I didn't have to tell Kelyn more than once before she was convinced that was where they lived.

The entrance is a small piece of ornate glass which I placed against the trunk. We knock on it sometimes to see if they are in and occasionally leave them presents like seed husks they can use as hats. So the imaginary world connects to the real world, helping to anchor the stories and characters. Within the tree kingdom, everything you can imagine that is magic, exciting and fun is there. Fairy parties, gardens, treasure, magical objects, other magical creatures, portals to other realms, whatever you need for the next tale.

Another key component is the magic toadstool which we have to visit in order to shrink down small enough to enter the tree or go on adventures that need us to be the size of a fairy. The fairies are about an inch tall. Of course the toadstool also returns us to our normal size. I don't always accompany Kelyn on her adventures but I venture out on more than a few!

There are several core characters that feature in the tales;

Petunia - is a little girl fairy who Kelyn saved from a spider's web, after which, they became firm friends. She's highly inquisitive and very brave. Petunia features in the majority of the stories.

Mr Hedgehog - is, yes, a hedgehog. He's quite old and cantankerous, always snuffling around the garden and is constantly being bothered by pesky fairies and their friends.

Dillon - is a little boy fairy who is always getting into trouble and mischief that Kelyn and Petunia have to save him from. You know, broken wings, turning to stone, accidental magic, stealing food, getting lost....

Day - is a little boy fairy who is always falling asleep inside flower buds, especially Roses.

Mr Frog - features fairly regularly but he never seems to know anything or be in any position to help. To be honest, I'm not sure why he's a character....although, he does turn up to the fairies' parties in the tree.

Mrs Snail - is very nervous and doesn't like anything unusual going on. She doesn't like to rush anything and gets upset if anyone around her is in a hurry. Sometimes it is very difficult to coax her out of her shell.

Mr Owl - is, as you might expect, old and wise. The fairies tend to tease him and he finds their whimsical frivolity somewhat irritating because they don't listen. He likes Kelyn and is happy to bestow his great wisdom upon her when she needs it. (Kelyn calls Mr Owl Owlie and I am sure she thinks he's absolutely real because she heard him one evening.)

Opal the Dragon - who lives in the Dragon realm that can be reached through the fairies' magic portal. Opal is a very young, sparkly blue Dragon. She is very playful, loves fairies and to go on adventures. She know lots about the inhabitants of the Dragon world, like the goblins, trolls and elves so is the perfect companion.

Summary of tales & examples of plots;

Establish the realm and the main characters. The tales don't have to be long or complicated to begin with. It becomes easier to make them more complicated the more familiar you become with the constructs and characters you create.

So to start with, the fairies need a kingdom.....some object or place that lends itself to the idea. Then you need a couple of main characters....animals that are likely to be about and a couple of fairies obviously :) They should be quite simple at first and presented in a way that would allow a child to relate. Complexity and depth will grow naturally as the tales progress. Once the foundations are laid, new characters, new objects and more complex tales can evolve without losing their attention.

Example tales;

A story about the fairies and where they live
An introduction to the main characters who live in the area that can interact with the fairies and your child
An introduction to objects, real or imaginary, that can help anchor the tales and merge the worlds

Petunia can't find Day, he's fallen asleep in one of the flowers again....ask all the animals in the area if they've seen him and search all the flowers.
Build a playground in the fairy kingdom for the fairy children.
Catch some moon fish (can only be seen by the light of a full moon and you have to howl like a wolf to coax them into your nets,) to put in the fairy kingdom's ponds.
Help find the ingredients for a fairy pie that will feed everyone at the fairy feast.
Round up the baby woodlice that escaped from Mrs Snail when she was looking after them.
Save a strange fairy boy from another realm who has broken his wing.
Find the fairy treasure that was stolen by the mischievous Gnomes and return it to the Fairy Queen.
Save Dillon (who touched a magic flower and started turning to stone) by holding him in the first rays of the rising sun.
A trip to the sea to visit Petunia's Mermaid friends who have magic that let you breath under water.

So once you have the foundation places and characters, you can make the rest up fairly easily on the spot!

I really like this quote and believe it has truth in it...

"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want your children to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Albert Einstein.

Imaginations need to be fed and empathy, a very important part of intelligence, grows together with imagination.

I hope you enjoyed the post and that it might help to enrich story time!

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Happy Steeming