Not the ones to wear.. but to narrate
Let me start from the beginning..
The pandemic lockdowns have meant that kids need to stay more indoors.
That implies that we need more creative ways to engage them.
And, let me tell you, that engaging grand kids is not easy.. that too, remotely.
Increased social awareness these days and the desire to be or be seen as - politically correct pretty much makes all stories that our generation grew up on, unacceptable.
Let me share some samples of the dilemmas that I go through these days
Take the Little red riding hood
- should we call the wolf 'big and bad'
- should the wolf eat the grandmother
- should the wolf be killed at the end of the story
- etc etc etc
- is it ok to just walk into someone's house, just because nobody is there
- is it ok to eat / break things without asking someone, when the soup was hot or warm - implying that it was made recently and the family might have stepped away briefly
- etc etc etc
- who are demons
- what about some who tease girls and save who save
- or those cursed for misbehavior with others
- how to picture kings who kill to expand their kingdom
- being cunning - or is it being smarter than others
- about unreasonable people in power
- should we talk of fairies and other fantasies or be only realistic [and drab]
- how do we justify stereotypes of home makers or girls, where some stories have such explicit labeling
- or an adventurous girl characterized as a tomboy