In my experience as a parent (got two kids) I’ve found that reading fairy-tales is not just fun for the child, but for the parent also, if he manages to tune in with the kid’s mind and help him understand the tale, its concepts, emotional knowledge and lessons, and maybe sometimes – their applications in real life.
So it seems that we read fairy-tales in two periods of our lives – when we are kids, and when we are grown-ups with kids. On one occasion we try to understand the tale, follow the plot and enjoy it, and on the other we try to help our next generation through the process.
The experience is enriching not only because of the stronger connection, attention and affection between the child and the parent, but because the parent remembers what he felt while he was read those fairy-tales, how he viewed the protagonists etc. and the child experiences it itself and learns a lot about emotionality in a subtle way.
There aren’t many children books with fairy tales nowadays on the market. A huge old book with a collection of fairy tales was passed on in my family, but I lost it somewhere while moving to a new place. Fortunately, I came across the series of books published by New Media Group and Svetlio Kantardjiev called “The fairy treasure-house of the world”, which has hundreds of fairy tales from different authors and folk tales from different parts of the world. These are only in Bulgarian yet, but I’m sure in most parts of the world there are still such books with tales. If not, you can still find the tales you want on the web, print them with the images, and read them to your kid. The important is not to miss them while it’s growing and developing – they were important for you , so they will be important for him or her too 🙂