According to an article in the Telegraph, a poll of 3,000 British parents found that parents are refusing to read “traditional” fairy tales to their children because they fear their kids will be “emotionally damaged.”

Little Red Riding Hood is avoided by a third of parents, because the heroine walks through the woods alone and is eaten by a wolf — irresponsible and nightmare-inducing. The Gingerbread Man is too scary because he, too, is eaten; dwarf references in Snow White are not PC; and Rapunzel is “too dark.”

Two-thirds of parents said traditional fairytales had stronger morality messages than many modern children’s stories.

But many said they were no longer appropriate to soothe youngsters before bed.

Parents instead prefer books like Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar (about a caterpillar with a voracious appetite), the Mr. Men series by Roger Hargreaves, and Aliens Love Underpants! by Claire Freedman (about aliens who want to steal pants, as there are no pants in space). It’s a relief to know that while these kids may grow up to be gluttonous, messy, lazy pants-stealers, at least they won’t be emotionally damaged.

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