Once Upon a Time

10 life lessons from fairy tales

With fantastical stories of witches and fairies, goblins and elves, or heroic princes and their villainous counterparts, folklore and fairy tales have long been an ingrained tradition in story-telling. Why do they all start with “Once upon a time. In a deep, dark wood. In a kingdom far away...”? Fairy tales are dark for a reason - they’re trying to warn us about how crap life can really be! These stories allow us to explore the furthest reaches of our imaginations, but also a few things can be learned from a childhood spent devouring the ultimate Fairy tales. Like, life is difficult and challenging; bad things happen to good people; the course of true love never runs smooth; and we all live happily ever after...of course!

Everyone needs to venture off the beaten track at some point in his or her life, so no one can blame Little Red for doing that, but confusing a wolf for your grandmother? That’s just inexcusable!

What can fairy tales tell us about tales with a line of darkness, or tales wrapped in mystery...

Peter Pan - Girls are always going to be more mature than boys. Little Red Riding Hood - Invest in good eye care.

“One girl is worth more use than 20 boys.” - J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

You might want to stay a lost boy forever, your girlfriend probably won’t. Let’s not forget that Wendy decided to get her act together and grow up, taking all the other boys back to London with her, and leaving Peter on his own to stay young forever in Neverland.

Alice in Wonderland - Just do it.

Throw all caution to the wind and have a grand adventure! Follow the white rabbit, drink from that mysterious bottle and go to tea parties with strangers. You’ve already made so many other inadvisable decisions in your life – what’s the worst that can happen?

Beauty and the Beast - Dont judge a book by its cover. Snow White - Consent is power.

The Little Mermaid - Sometimes you cant have the one you want.

You may love him with all your heart. You may leave your family, give up your voice and change yourself to be with him. But, as the original Hans Christian Andersen story shows, you can’t make him fall in love with you. This tragic tale pulls no punches and teaches us from a young age that you don’t always get your prince, no matter how hard you try.

The tale’s message is a good reminder that we should not judge a book by its cover. We should take the time to get to know somebody on a deeper level to see if there is a meaningful love connection...although Belle is held captive against her will by the Beast. Yet, she falls in love with him over time, almost as if she was afforded no choice in the situation. A little bit of Stockholm Syndrome here if you ask me! Snow White is unconscious when the prince kisses them, which raises up a lot of issues about consent. In the #MeToo era of educating people about the importance of sexual consent, romanticizing non-consensual sexual actions with an unconscious person is a negative message but we now know better. However, this Fairy tale still has a good ending, where true love conquers all and goodness prevails.

The Princess and the Frog - Give people a chance.

Let’s get one thing clear: the princess in question only kissed one frog, who just so happened to be a handsome prince under a spell. So you don’t actually need to kiss many frogs, you just need to kiss the right frog – but frog-kissing is still essential, so give that guy or gal a chance and it might just pay off.

Cinderella - Its not what you know but who you know.

Never forget the importance of networking: where would Cinderella be without her fairy godmother? Most likely still sweeping cinders out of the fireplace. While many fairy tales commend success through one’s skill, talent and hard work, this story reminds us that friends in high places can also give us a boost up.