If you're worried that your child may be traumatised by the beanstalk giant chasing Jack, or by the big bad wolf gobbling up two of the Three Little Pigs, ease up.

Scary stories are not just a source of entertainment, they help kids face the deep-seated fears they have, and overcome them. In fact, although it is a tale of abuse and abandonment, Hansel and Gretel has been singled out as significant to children around five. That's the age when young kids, as they begin to step out into the world, need the reassurance that they will be okay, according to the late Bruno Bettelheim, the psychologist who wrote, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales.

The story helps kids explore their feelings about being lost, physically and emotionally. It also allows them to engage in the vicarious thrill of fending for themselves and doing just fine.

Other tales, like Cinderella, help with emotions such as greed and envy. Oddly enough, the wicked stepsisters may be the characters that are the more thought-provoking. They personify sibling rivalry, and the story becomes a platform for children to play out the emotions they may already struggle with.

"When children read or hear fairy tales, they project the good parts of themselves onto the hero or heroine and the bad parts onto the witch figure," Sheldon Cashdan, a professor of psychology and author of The Witch Must Die: The Hidden Meaning of Fairy Tales, told www.child.com
"Then every time the witch dies, it magically restores children's faith in their ability to conquer their own troublesome emotions."
 

CLICK TO READ
If it looks like your computer-savvy kid may prefer the Internet to board books, you can turn her around by using online resources to foster the reading interest.

Better yet, since it's a given that to use the computer she needs a parent around, you can count on your involvement to boost her learning that much more.

Look out for:
What: Games that teach children word recognition (for instance, simple words like "apple" or "milk").
Why: Helps them understand that a specific pattern of letters represents a specific object.
What: Games in which kids guess the sound a word starts with.
Why: This teaches them that words are made up of sounds (the technical term for "phonemic awareness").
What: Games in which they form words or add letters to complete words.
Why: To help them associate letters with sounds.
What: Memory games.
Why: A better memory means an increased ability to remember what you read.

Good teaching
According to the National Reading Panel in the United States, effective reading instruction includes:
- Teaching kids to break apart and manipulate the sounds in words (phonemic awareness)
- Teaching them that these sounds are represented by letters of the alphabet, which can be blended together to form words (phonics)
- Having them practice what they’ve learned by reading aloud with guidance and feedback (guided oral reading)
- Applying strategies to improve reading comprehension.

Star site
At www.seussville.com/seussville, the famous Dr Seuss characters come together to click-and-play. And it's great fun! Sam-I-Am Says – the interactive version of the classic story Green Eggs And Ham – has children click on the correct answer to questions like "Would you eat it with a goat?" Well, "I would not eat them …" (click) "with a goat" is the answer that will take them to the next screen. As delightful as the One Fish Two Fish Matching Game!

!QUICKTIP!
Set time aside daily for everyone in the family to read. This gets kids into the reading habit.

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