Children's bedtime stories - too scary???

Parents have stopped reading traditional fairytales to their children because they are too scary and not politically correct, according to research.

Favourites such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Rapunzel are being dropped by some families who fear children are being emotionally damaged.

A third of parents refused to read Little Red Riding Hood because she walks through woods alone and finds her grandmother eaten by a wolf.

One in 10 said Snow White should be re-named because "the dwarf reference is not PC".

Rapunzel was considered "too dark" and Cinderella has been dumped amid fears she is treated like a slave and forced to do all the housework..

Almost 20 per cent of adults said they refused to read Hansel and Gretel because the children were abandoned in a forest - and it may give their own sons and daughters nightmares...

The most popular book read at bedtime is now The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carl.

I respectfully disagree. Protecting children from scary things is not the way to prepare them for life. If they can watch the evening news or hear passages from the Old Testament, they can hear about Cinderella doing the housework.

Give them Maurice Sendak. The Brothers Grimm. Dore line drawings. (Bottom image from The Boy Who Was Never Afraid). If things are scary, teach them to deal with fear and overcome it. It's a skill that will come in handy.