Guest blogger; Neil Fellowes from The Chocolate Club
When your child complains school is boring and you know their education is a priority, you have to step in. And there are many ways you can do this…This week I stepped in with making homework come alive; to help teach lessons from fairy tales.
The project was to retell an old tale and the possibilities were Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood or the Billy Goats Gruff.
My daughter’s twelve now, so its been a while since we read the old tales, so we had a quick refresher and I have to say when I re-read Goldilocks I was shocked!
Why Goldilocks Shocked Me
The story ends with good old Goldie going on many more adventures and you might think: “My word, she looks like a fun, adventuresome girl. But the reality is quite different…
Actually, she:
Had argument with her mum…
Stormed out of the house in a tantrum…
Broke and entered the bear’s house…
And she has a habit of being overly fussy…
Lessons from Fairy Tales: Calling Goldilocks on Her Bad Behaviour
Basically, Goldilocks is a spoiled little brat. Her adventures were leading her straight to a life of anger, a life demanding entitlement, petty crime and probably rolling in the gutter after a drinking binge. So, I suggested to my daughter how I’d to retell the story.
My daughter laughed at the idea and I could see it had captured her imagination, but there was a challenge… What I was suggesting was outside of the project… all she had to do was simply stand up and recount the tale. Okay, this might be an English assignment to help children improve their verbal communication skills and I’m all for that, but being a bit of a public speaker I can see an opportunity to do a whole lot more…
Retelling The Goldilocks Tale
“You must do what the teacher wants”
This is, after all, vital if you want to get good grades.
But, I also appealed to my daughter’s desire to make education interesting (critical if she’s going to excel). So I suggested she try something different that captures the imagination of her audience (a vital life skill if you want to sell, or entertain later in life) and have the truth of Goldilocks revealed for all to see. After all Goldie is a shining example of what not to do (It’s good to be able to read between the lines and call something for what it is – vital to good decision making).
So, while my daughter retells the story of Goldilocks And Three Bears I’ve suggested her prompt cards, as she turns them over, retell the subplot on the reverse side. Namely…
Goldilocks is a spoiled little girl… she storms off, she breaks into someone’s home, eats from 3 bowls of porridge – being fussy the first two were not just right for her, and then, being a lazy work shy little so-and-so, she tries out 3 beds, but again 2 are not good enough for Little Miss Stroppy Britches.
You see as a parent… I see it as my duty to help my kids see the truth in the tale and pay it forward to their peers.
If this doesn’t happen then kids will think Goldilocks and the dozens other movies and stories out there that follow the journey of Goldilocks – I’m meaning the teen spoiled brat kind of movies – are fun and real instead of spotting them for the crass, disrespectful little horrors they are.
Calling Goldilocks on her behaviour now will help your child consider their way forward and consider that her future fun adventures might have lacked equally irresponsible behaviour that they can learn from and turn away from now.
Helen
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine! Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time. KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10. It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania. Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on. Get in touch TODAY!