Fairytale therapy for children: purpose, directions, use at home

What is fairy tale therapy

Fairy tale therapy is a method of psychological influence on a person through fairy tales. With its help, you can correct various problems, get rid of fears and complexes, and gain new behavioral experience.

This technique can be used not only on children, but also on adults. It all depends on the content of the fairy tale and its metaphorical resources. But for preschoolers, fairy tale therapy is most important, because all the images of heroes are deposited in the child’s subconscious. Effective use of fairy tales at this age will help the child avoid many problems and find his place in society.

Plot

Among the huge variety of fairy tales, the following plots can be distinguished:

Tales about animals and relationships with them. An interesting fact is that children under 5 years of age identify themselves with animals and try to be like them in many ways, so in this period of life they will be more understandable and close to fairy tales about animals, the life experience contained in stories about animals.

Everyday tales. They often talk about difficulties in family life, and also offer solutions to conflicts. In this type of fairy tales, the main emphasis is on a healthy sense of humor and on the leadership of common sense regarding troubles and adversities. They introduce us to little family tricks that can make life better. Such tales are optimal when working with teenagers.
Tales of transformations. We all know the sad story about the Ugly Duckling, who eventually won his place in life and the team. These stories are great for working with those who have low self-esteem or for working with adopted children.

Scary tales. In these fairy tales there are various evil spirits - ghouls, witches, ghouls and others. In all nations, in the children's subculture, a special place is given to horror tales, which allow children to heal on their own. This method of self-therapy invites the child to reproduce and experience a terrible situation in a fairy tale many times, thanks to which children get rid of accumulated tension and master new ways of responding to the problem. To increase a child’s resistance to stress and relieve him of tension, it is recommended to tell horror stories to a group of children and adolescents (at least 7 years old). However, when conducting such an activity, it is necessary to follow 2 important rules: the story must be told in a “scary” voice, and the end of the story must be very unexpected and very funny.

Fairy tales. These stories are ideal for children aged 6-7 years. It is a fairy tale that helps create a “concentrate” of wisdom in the subconscious and assimilate information about the spiritual development of the individual.

Work with folk tales should end with careful analysis and discussion. As soon as the hidden meanings and morals are worked out and tied to real life situations, you can begin to use additional ways of working with a fairy tale: dramatization, making fairy-tale dolls, sand therapy, drawing.

3. Author's artistic fairy tale. To successfully combat internal experiences, it is best to choose original fairy tales. Despite the fact that they contain too many of the author’s own projections and experiences, this allows the child to penetrate deeper into the problem and find a way to solve it. For example, the fairy tale “Two Frogs” by L. Panteleev helps adults and children who have lost interest in life, whose strength is running out, who are losing hope. This fairy tale teaches us to fight for our health and for life, to fight for our goals to the last, because each of us has at least one chance and the necessary internal strength that will help us cope with any difficulties that come our way.

4. Didactic fairy tale. Various educational tasks are often framed in the form of these fairy tales. For example, there are mathematical tasks written in the form of a didactic fairy tale. Solving an example in such a task means passing a test, coping with difficulties. Solving a series of examples can lead the hero to success and finally overcome the problem.

5. Psychocorrectional tale. Actually, this is a fairy tale that helps to correct certain patterns of behavior in children. But in order for it to lead to the expected result, it is necessary to adhere to the basic principles when creating it:

It should be based on the same problem as the child’s, but veiled, without direct resemblance to it.
In a fairy tale, it is necessary to offer the child a substitute experience, with the help of which the child can choose one or another course of action in order to solve his problem.

The tale must be presented in a strictly defined sequence:

Once upon a time - symbolizes the beginning of a fairy tale, introduces the current characters. For a 3-4 year old child, it is recommended to tell fairy tales about toys, little people or animals. From the age of 5, you can tell a fairy tale about princes and princesses, wizards and fairies, soldiers, etc. From the age of 5-6, children prefer fairy tales. For teenagers, everyday fairy tales and parables are suitable.
And suddenly... But then one day... - the hero encounters a problem that resembles the problem of a child.
Because of this... - hints at what achievement is not happening that the child could have achieved without this problem.
The climax is, in fact, the direct struggle of the heroes with difficulties.
The outcome is necessarily positive.
The moral of the story is that the hero learns a lesson from his experience and his life changes dramatically.

Psychocorrectional fairy tales are intended to have a soft, unobtrusive, non-aggressive impact on children. Correction here plays the role of replacing an unproductive mode of behavior with a productive one. Thanks to them, adults can explain to the child what is generally happening in his life, the meaning of events.

It is recommended to use these fairy tales up to a certain age - up to 11-13 years. There are also some restrictions on the type of problems encountered in children.

To create a psychocorrectional fairy tale yourself, you must act according to the following algorithm:

a) Choose a hero. Which will be close to the child’s personality, but at the same time significantly different. The hero must have similar character traits, age, and gender.

b) Describe the life of a fairy-tale hero in such a way that the child can catch similarities with his own life.

c) Create a problematic situation in which the fairy-tale hero finds himself, and it must be similar to the child’s problem, describe the feelings and experiences that the child himself experiences.

d) Describe the hero’s process of finding a way to solve the problem. Here it is necessary to aggravate the situation, to bring the search to a logical conclusion, which will help push the hero to find the right solution and to change. A fairy-tale hero may come across minor characters and creatures who find themselves in the same situation. At the same time, the hero can observe from the outside how the creatures find a way out of their problems. Here a “wise mentor” may appear who will explain to the hero the meaning of the events taking place. Your task is to show the child the situation and its solution from several sides, provide the child with an alternative, different models of behavior, and help him find the positive aspects of what is happening.

e) The hero of the fairy tale realizes the mistakes in his behavior and takes the right path.

It is not necessary to discuss a psychocorrectional fairy tale with your child; you can simply read it, giving the child the opportunity to independently reflect on its meaning. Thus, the child is alone with his own thoughts. If he has questions or wants to discuss the fairy tale, you should always be ready to answer him, and if necessary, play out the plot using drawings, dolls, figurines or a sandbox.

6. Psychotherapeutic fairy tale. This type of fairy tale reveals for the child the hidden meaning of current events. Such stories help the child see what is happening from a different angle. They may not always have a clear interpretation and they may not always have a happy ending, but they have amazing depth and insight. This is a kind of rhetorical question, pondering which will stimulate the child’s personal growth. Many fairy tales of this type highlight the problems of life and death, paths and love, attitudes towards what is gained and what is lost.

A psychotherapeutic fairy tale sometimes helps where other psychotherapy techniques are completely powerless. They are used if the problem affects the philosophy of relationships and events.

Goals of fairy tale therapy

Fairytale therapy helps the child pay attention to a specific problem and find ways to solve it in an unobtrusive manner. Each fairy tale has its own situation that arises in the life of a child, and the heroes have the same qualities as the child himself. A story always has a logical conclusion that shows a possible way out of the situation.

Fairytale therapy as a method of psychological correction involves establishing a connection between fairy-tale events and real life, as well as acquiring new emotional and behavioral experience.

A fairy tale can not only teach something, but also heal, relieve anxiety and stress. The main thing is that this happens in a confidential, and not moralizing, form.

Why are meditative tales told?

A meditative fairy tale usually serves as a prologue, a setting for a psychotherapeutic session.

However, it can also perform an independent function - to raise “to the top” the material of the Unconscious, which needs to be worked out, awaken a person’s personal potential, and serve as a hint for making an independent decision.

In this sense, I really like Tolkien’s short tales and JK Rowling’s collection of fairy tales, “The Tales of Beedle the Bard.”

Although... meditative fairy tales are my favorite genre, to which I give undisguised preference, and in this regard, I want to warn you: the treasury where meditative fairy tales are stored is by no means limited to Tolkien and Rowling. Seek and you will find.

Areas of fairy tale therapy

There are several areas of fairy tale therapy:

exit from various life situations through the choice of behavior of the hero of a fairy tale, which leads to various consequences;
identifying and solving the child’s problem in a form accessible to him;
transfer of life experience and worldly wisdom through the plot of a fairy tale;
development of thinking, imagination and memory during the discussion of the work and analysis of the actions and characters of the characters;
adjusting behavior by relating oneself to the main character, identifying his negative actions and personality traits;
psychoprophylaxis of possible problems.

Didactic fairy tales

The main purpose of such stories is to present the material in an entertaining way. Even when a psychologist uses sounds, numbers, letters, arithmetic operations and other complex symbols, they must be presented in a playful form and be animated. This way, fairy-tale images will begin to reveal the meaning of the story and convey the necessary knowledge as efficiently as possible.

A characteristic feature of this type of correction is the use of subject information. At the same time, children’s creative abilities begin to develop, their speech skills are formed and their thinking improves.

Working with a didactic fairy tale includes separate stages. These include listening and discussion, analysis, and evaluation of the plot. With motivated and systematic use of this type of therapy, the child begins to avoid typical mistakes and achieves good results on the topic being studied.

Writing didactic fairy tales is also very effective for teenage patients. This technique allows you to fully realize the child’s intellectual and creative resources. He begins to approach the solution of a learning task through the perception of achieving success, which (as he begins to realize) can only be achieved after passing difficult tests.

Didactic psychocorrective fairy tales for primary schoolchildren are the main focus in working with children of this age. Experts note that when using them, even the most difficult to teach and difficult to educate children begin to show interest in the material.

Functions of fairy tale therapy

Fairytale therapy is a tool for influencing a child that even parents can use. Its use can help get rid of childhood phobias, figure out what is “good” and what is “bad,” and help overcome difficulties in life.

The functions of fairy tale therapy include the following:

quickly establishing contact with the child;
identifying mental problems that are hidden in the subconscious;
consideration of various behavior options using the example of a fairy tale hero;
assistance in understanding one’s own feelings, emotions and contradictions in behavior;
finding out information that the child deliberately does not disclose.

How to select fairy tales for the method

For children of kindergarten age, fairy tales are selected where the characters are animals. Younger preschoolers compare themselves with their pets and imitate them.

Children who underestimate themselves as individuals will listen with great interest to stories about magical transformations. It is important for them to know how to reincarnate correctly in order to accept themselves at the moment and know the next steps. They cannot formulate the problem because they are not aware of its existence. A fairy tale about the transformation of a frog into a prince will help to cope with the situation when a child ends up in a foster family. Instead of reading, you can watch cartoons based on literary works.

Fairy tales help you gain confidence that miracles can happen in life. This genre is suitable for children 6–7 years old.

Scary stories. Develop stress resistance and the desire to cope with the problem. Contrast and expressive reading are important here. If folk tales are used, the ending is usually changed to a more cheerful one so that children laugh heartily. In this way, confidence is established that everything terrible ends well. The horror genre is suitable for children over 7 years old.

Everyday stories. They stimulate thinking and ingenuity in order to emerge victorious from a situation. More suitable for teenagers.

Psychocorrectional tales. Their essence is that the child’s problem coincides with the character’s problem. There must be a choice of options for how the hero decides to act. The child unconsciously chooses his behavior model.

Types of fairy tales

Psychologist T.D. Zinkevich-Evstigneeva studied fairy tale therapy and developed a classification of fairy tales.

Artistic

These are traditional fairy tales (folk and original), which with their plot can correct a child’s behavior. For example, with the help of such fairy tales one can explain how excessive spoiling can result (“The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish”).

If the plot allows, then the specialist can adapt and change the fairy tale to suit the required situation. But such fairy tales are not used in solving deep and complex problems.

Psychocorrectional

This type of fairy tale is used to correct individual personality traits: laziness, aggressiveness, capriciousness, cowardice, etc. Suitable not only for small children, but also for teenagers and adults. It does not require mandatory discussion and playing; sometimes just reading and thinking is enough.

Psychotherapeutic

The most commonly used type of fairy tale for preschoolers. They help to understand the phenomena and events of the surrounding world that affect the development of the child’s personality. With the help of psychotherapeutic fairy tales, you can get rid of the deepest internal problems (for example, fear of the dark, thunderstorms, etc.). Developed and composed for a specific child.

Meditative

Such tales help relieve stress and have a relaxing effect. Works in which there is no negativity or evil help to overcome problems with social adaptation and depressive moods. Sometimes they are used to identify issues that trouble the patient on a subconscious level. Telling meditative stories goes well with pleasant music or sounds of nature.

Didactic

Didactic fairy tales solve a wide range of educational and educational problems. They are used in kindergartens and schools for easier delivery of educational material. Therefore, at present there are dozens of original correctional and developmental programs based on fairy tale therapy.

Types of fairy tales

It is customary to distinguish 6 main types of fairy tales , each of which has its own purpose and special therapeutic effect:

1. Fictional tale. These tales contain centuries-old wisdom, which the people put into them thanks to their own bitter experience. This also includes original stories, which are essentially the same fairy tales, parables, and myths. A fictional tale has a didactic, psychotherapeutic and psychocorrective effect. Initially, it was not created for treatment at all, but today this type of story is successfully used by a huge number of psychotherapists.

2. Folk tale. The oldest folk tales are usually called myths. The oldest basis of fairy tales and myths is the unity of nature and man. In ancient consciousness, it was customary to revive human relationships and feelings (grief, love, suffering, etc.), to personalize them. The same approach is used today in fairy tale therapy.

Fairytale therapy techniques

Working with fairy tales leaves a wide choice of combinations with other forms of therapy. This helps to increase children’s interest and evoke a stable positive attitude towards such activities.

Sand therapy. Interacting with sand not only gives a relaxing effect, but also helps to recreate your own fairy-tale “sand” world. This practice allows the child to completely immerse himself in the plot and intuitively find a way out of a difficult situation.
Drawing. The child creates his own world with the help of pencils and paints, which helps to recognize emotions about the text he hears. This technique also promotes children's creative self-expression. You can invite them to continue the fairy tale on a piece of paper or come up with an alternative ending.
Staging. Playing a role in a fairy tale gives the child the opportunity to gain emotional experience and gain a deeper understanding of the character. But it is important to leave the child room for improvisation - this form of therapy will allow you to see your own shortcomings and problems using the example of a fairy tale hero.
Puppet shows. Sometimes it’s difficult to play a role yourself, and then dolls come to the rescue. A child can assign any qualities to his character and observe from the outside what different behavior options can lead to. The process of making dolls and playing have a relaxing effect.
"Master of Fairy Tales" This is the author’s technique of fairy tale therapy, which is carried out with a deck of special cards. T.D. Zinkevich-Evstigneeva believes that there are 10 archetypes (road, state, crossroads, etc.), the combination of which allows you to create 50 different fairy-tale plots. The child independently comes up with his own story based on the chosen card.

Books on fairy tale therapy

1. “Author's fairy tale therapy”, Gnezdilov A.V. The book by the famous St. Petersburg doctor and storyteller contains his fairy tales that help people cope with difficult situations for them - family problems, loss of loved ones, discover new strengths in themselves and find inner harmony.

2. “Fairy tales and tips”, Kozlova E.G. skazki_i_podskazki

This collection contains 350 problems (with tips, solutions and answers) that were offered in math circle classes and solved by children. The book will be interesting and useful to schoolchildren, their parents, as well as mathematics teachers and students of mathematics departments of pedagogical institutes.

3. “Workshop on fairy tale therapy”, Zinkevich-Evstigneeva T.D. praktikum_po_skaz_ter

The guide to fairy tale therapy is addressed to psychologists, teachers, psychotherapists, doctors, philologists, parents and all those who feel close to the fairy tale genre.

4. “Fairy tales and fairy tale therapy” Sokolov Dmitry skazki_i_skazkoterapia

This book is one of the first and most nimble signs of fairy tale therapy, a popular and rapidly developing area of practical psychology. Unlike “serious” textbooks, it lays out the basics of the approach in an easy and colorful way.

The book contains fairy tales that have independent artistic value, which over the past ten years have been loved by many children and adults who met them through the first editions of this book, as well as through magazines, audio cassettes and puppet shows.

At what age should fairy tale therapy be used?

Fairytale therapy can be used for children of any age: from preschoolers to teenagers. When using it, one must take into account the characteristics of age and the necessary values.

For preschoolers

In preschool age, fairy tale therapy is an obligatory part of the educational process. It is in this form that it is easiest for children to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. Children develop their imagination, attention, memory and speech, learn to retell and explain the meaning of what adults read, and distinguish between good and bad traits of characters.

In addition to educational problems, fairy tale therapy also solves a number of psychological ones.

At 2-3 years old, fairy tales help a child adapt to kindergarten and reduce anxiety due to new conditions and the absence of parents nearby.

At 3-4 years of age, such therapy helps to establish communication with peers and adults and develop speech.

By the age of 5-6, children show their first fears and complexes, so the goal of fairy tale therapy at this stage is to overcome various problems and gain self-confidence.

For younger students

When children enter school, they have even more problems that the fairytale therapy method helps solve. Folk and original fairy tales help to adapt to school conditions and routines. Children continue to develop memory, imagination and attention, and learn goal setting.

At this age, it is more difficult to use fairy tales as a collective method of therapy, because the personality of each child develops, becomes more complex and different from his classmates. Therefore, psychologists work more with children individually (especially when working on deviant behavior).

For teenagers

In difficult adolescence, fairy tale therapy can be a good tool for self-expression. With the help of various works, teenagers can reflect, track their emotions and reactions to the actions and thoughts of the characters, and identify themselves with them. This helps to find your “I” and work through various problems with self-esteem, self-doubt, overcoming negative thoughts, etc.

Fairytale therapy as a method of psychological correction article on the topic

Nikitskaya O.V., teacher

GBOU school No. 432 of Kolpinsky district

St. Petersburg

Fairytale therapy as a method of psychological correction

Fairytale therapy is one of the most effective methods of working with children with disabilities who experience difficulties in the physical, emotional or behavioral sphere. This method is inclusive and open to children's understanding. The fairy tale therapy method allows you to solve problems of emotional-volitional control of behavior. It introduces children to books, introduces them to literature, and also motivates children to be creative through the joint creation of fairy tales.

Fairytale therapy develops the child’s personality through multifaceted influence. Develops leadership qualities, speech, imagination, thinking, and also helps eliminate such unfavorable qualities as: indecision, fears, aggression, etc. Thanks to immersion in a fairy tale, the child opens up and experiences vivid emotions and sensations.

By repeatedly rereading fairy tales, together with the teacher, children become acquainted with various moral concepts, such as goodness, duty, mutual assistance, gratitude, justice, conscience, honor, courage, etc. The child fully gets used to the role of the character, fully experiences all the events that happen to him hero, assigns him his personal qualities and attitudes. Fairy-tale images unobtrusively teach a child how to act in one or another difficult life situation, observing the norms of morality and morality.

While imagining, a child experiences many stories in different variations and in different roles, but the assignment of roles must be approached selectively. For children with low self-esteem, you need to choose the role of a folk hero, princess, king or queen, so that during the game the children glorify this child, thereby increasing his self-esteem. For the role of the cowardly bunny, you need to select shy and timid children, so that during the game they tell through movements and gestures about their fears, and other children would help the “cowardly bunny” cope with his fears and believe in himself.

Fairytale therapy allows children to immerse themselves in a wonderland and become a participant in a real fairy tale. What cannot be achieved through simply reading a fairy tale or watching a cartoon. With the development of animation, parents began to read to their children much less often, which affects the children to the fullest; it is difficult for them to perceive material by ear and the processes of imagination and thinking are significantly reduced.

The fairytale therapy method in classes with special needs children is not only educational in nature, but also correctional and developmental, which is aimed at growing the child’s personal and creative potential.

The main goal of fairy tale therapy is:

— Relieving emotional stress;

— Creating a playful atmosphere of trust in the group;

— Establishing interpersonal contacts between children;

— Formation in children of adequate self-esteem, the ability to accept their negative sides, the formation of a desire to please themselves and other people;

— Development of thinking and imagination in the process of composing fairy tales;

— Developing a child’s sense of self-confidence and self-confidence;

— Development of communication skills in communicating with peers and adults.

What does a fairy tale give to children?

Ancient wisdom says: “A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it.” It turns out, by and large, the plot of the fairy tale is fiction. But at the same time, it contains, in a metaphorical form, eternal truths and human values, to which the fairy tale subtly hints to the child. Not saying directly: “Do this!”, but showing with examples how certain actions turn out for the heroes. Of course, no one is forcing you to do the same. But the child himself will certainly draw the right conclusions. Especially if you discuss fairy tales with him, ask questions about them, encourage him to think.

What do fairy tales teach our children? If you try to systematize all the functions that a fairy tale successfully copes with, you might end up with something like this list:

Nurturing good human qualities

Using the example of fairy tale heroes, a child learns to be kind, brave, sincere, decent, achieve his goals and love his neighbors.

Gentle teaching without violence

From fairy tales, the child learns something new, previously unknown. There is even a special type of fairy tales - didactic fairy tales - which are written to teach a child in a playful way. In such works, the subject of instruction—geometric figures, numbers, letters, and other abstract symbols—is placed in a magical land. The child observes his life, and then, at the decisive moment, comes to the aid of the hero. Usually in such fairy tales, at the end, children are given a special task to consolidate the material. Please note, no edification or cramming! And knowledge will be gained.

But, of course, not only didactic fairy tales teach. Virtually all fairy tales contain an educational aspect, only sometimes it is more veiled.

Living emotions

While listening to a fairy tale, a child empathizes with the characters and can cry and laugh with them. He learns to distinguish between emotions and feelings, voice them, and call them by their proper names. All this will be of great use to him in adulthood.

Instilling eternal values

A fairy tale in a form accessible to a child teaches to understand and distinguish between what is good and what is bad, where is good and where is evil. She explains why it is important to be honest, kind and fair, and that good still wins.

Understanding the world around us and relationships between people

The child needs to see that there is a huge world around him, it is full of everything interesting and as yet unknown. And everyone in this world has their place. And, of course, using the examples of heroes, the child gets acquainted with models of relationships between people, and, therefore, in the future he will be ready to build them himself.

Gentle correction of child behavior

In fairy tale therapy, there is a special type of fairy tales - correctional fairy tales. They are designed to help the child cope with behavioral difficulties, replacing them with more effective forms of behavior. Such fairy tales are written by specialists - psychologists, fairytale therapists, teachers who work with children. And also caring mothers. And today we will get acquainted with an example of such a fairy tale.

Treatment of the soul

Sometimes a person, even a small one, lacks vital resources, understanding and strength to solve a particular problem. And then psychotherapeutic tales come to his aid - deep stories that literally heal the soul. They help you look at the situation from the other side and understand the deeper meaning of what is happening.

Relaxation, a set of positive experiences

Meditative fairy tales cope well with this task - works without conflicts and bad heroes. They show the child models of ideal relationships, a world in which everything is good and calm. They put you in a positive mood, help you relax and fall asleep. It is useful to read such fairy tales before bed.

Types of fairy tales in fairytale therapy

So, we have identified the main functions of fairy tales, and now let's systematize knowledge by listing the main types of fairy tales in fairy tale therapy. These include:

Fictional tales are folk and original stories. Folk tales carry the wisdom of centuries, and often contain many meanings. Author's stories can more subtly, carefully and figuratively convey meaning and show private aspects of a person's life.
Didactic or educational tales.
Psychocorrectional tales designed to help a child solve behavior problems.
Psychotherapeutic tales are for deeper, “therapeutic” work.
Meditative tales - for relaxation and accumulation of positive imaginative experience.

The tales that we meet along the way may not necessarily belong to only one group. For example, fairy tales often contain didactic, psychocorrective, therapeutic, and even meditative aspects. But, of course, there are fairy tales that are written specifically to solve a particular issue. Let's look at specific examples.

How fairytale therapy works: real examples

This fairy tale is for children who fight and offend their friends.

Flight to the moon

In one house there lived a small but very cheerful tiger cub. He loved to play and jump, run around the yard with his animal friends. And he had many friends: a fox, and a top, and a gray little hare, and a teddy bear, and even a prickly hedgehog. The tiger cub loved everyone, he happily told everyone funny stories, gave everyone rides on his tricycle and treated them to cotton candy. And everything would be fine, but only a tiger cub could sometimes get too playful and hit a friend or girlfriend, bite or pinch painfully. He thought it was fun and funny, but for some reason his friends were offended. Then, seeing their sad faces, the tiger cub began to bite and scratch them even harder - so that they would cheer up and begin to be friends with him again. But, of course, the friends only became more offended by the Tiger Cub and ran away from him.

And one day the Tiger Cub, as usual, went out onto the playground to play, and saw that none of the animals came up to him, or even said hello. On the contrary, everyone hurried to quickly run away from the site. And the Tiger Cub was left alone.

- I don’t want to be alone! - Tiger Cub growled. - Don't want!

The young Moon had just appeared in the sky. She looked at the Tiger Cub, felt sorry for him and said:

- So come to me! I have company here for you - my two sons.

The tiger cub nodded, Luna stretched out her hands to him and took him high, high. There, on the Moon, Tiger Cub immediately felt cold and very dark. He got scared and cried.

“Why are you crying?” asked a voice from the darkness.

- Because I'm alone. Nobody needs me, and no one wants to play with me,” sighed the Tiger Cub. And he immediately perked up. - And who are you?

- And I am Morpheus, son of the Moon. And with me is Orpheus, my younger brother.

The tiger cub looked back and saw two silhouettes.

- Do you really need someone? – the voice of the younger brother was heard. - We are on our own. And we don’t need any friends for nothing.

- Yes, we are the most important here. We can watch you and laugh at how strange you live,” Morpheus grinned. – The most important thing is the night. A time when everyone is asleep and we rule the universe. We, the sons of the great Moon!

And friends, in my opinion, only interfere with our great mission,” added Orpheus.

“I know how to play the harp, and my music makes you all fall asleep.” And then I transfer power over you to my brother Morpheus.

- What are you talking about, friends? This is great! – The tiger cub jumped up. - Without them, there’s no way!

“Ha-ha-ha,” Morpheus laughed. - And where are your friends now?

The tiger cub thought. Meanwhile, the brothers went to inspect their possessions.

- Tiger cub, I know how to help you! – squeaked a thin voice on the right.

The tiger cub turned and saw the mouse.

- Don’t look that I’m so small. “I have the power to change my appearance,” the mouse smiled. - I will give you a magic wand, and with its help you can bring back your friends!

- Great! – Tiger Cub perked up. “Should I just hit them with a stick and they’ll play with me again?”

“It’s not that simple, little Tiger Cub.” You can't change your friends. But it is up to you to regain their trust. And with a wand you will have to touch your hands every time you want to scratch or hit a friend.

“Okay, I’ll try,” the Tiger Cub smiled and took the gift. - Thank you, Mouse!

A minute later, the Tiger Cub again found himself on the platform in his yard. A small stick glowed in his hand.

"Miracles!" - thought the Tiger Cub and went to bed. In a dream, he saw Morpheus and Orpheus, so lonely and cold... And he felt so sorry for them!

The next morning the Tiger Cub was the first to jump onto the platform. Little by little the animals began to arrive. The Tiger Cub approached each one and asked for forgiveness for past offenses, promising never to scratch or bite again. The animals looked at him incredulously at first, and then again accepted him into their games.

Since then, Tiger Cub always plays happily with his friends. And when he suddenly wants to pinch or hit someone, he immediately takes out his magic wand, and it reminds him of the magical flight to the moon.

And finally, a warm and gentle bedtime story, which I often read to my son before bed.

Topa the bear and the magical flight

Once upon a time there lived a little bear, Topa. He loved to play in the sandbox, draw with bright colors and walk with his mother. He also always helped around the house - putting away his toys, washing vegetables for soup and sweeping the den. Mom was very happy about this help and always praised the little bear. And then they went to create together: draw wonderful pictures, sculpt from salt dough and make appliqués.

So, in creativity and cheerful worries, the day flew by. And now the sun was beginning to set behind the horizon, and large shadows appeared on the ground. The little bear was very happy, because at that time a kind storyteller flew to him. He sat on the blanket with Topa, and together they flew away into the magical land of dreams.

And now they are already rising high, high. Somewhere below there are noisy cities and roads, forests and fields. And in front of them is a huge night sky! Stars float by. They rustle quietly, and it seems they even hum a quiet song, “Dream-dream, sleep-dream.”

- Listen, Topa! The stars are singing! So, we are already very close! – the storyteller smiles.

- Hooray! – the bear cub answers joyfully. He feels so good and warm on a soft blanket. I just want to stretch, curl up in a ball and doze off. The sky smells deliciously of vanilla. Topa and mom always add vanilla when baking fragrant tea buns. Om-Nom-nom. How delicious they are!

A small cloud floats nearby.

-Can I touch it? - asks the bear cub.

- Try. After all, this is your fairy tale!

Topa touches the cloud, and his paws plunge into something soft and tender. And again wonderful music appears.

“Bye-bye! Bye-bye! Sleep, son, fall asleep!” sounds in the air, and the bear cub closes its eyes. Now he is in the land of dreams, where magical unicorns, bears and tiger cubs, delicate flowers and green meadows await him. Flying on a rainbow and quiet conversations with the moon and stars. Everything is possible here.

Topa really likes to be here. After all, he knows that in the morning he will wake up fresh and vigorous, and will play and create again. In the meantime, a magical journey awaits him. Hurray... My eyes are sticking together. Bye-bye...

Friends, with these examples of fairy tale therapy, I want to show you that a fairy tale can actually work miracles! And why don’t we take advantage of such properties?

It’s great that there is such a magical method of helping a child as fairy tale therapy. Many thanks to its author, T.D. Zinkevich-Evstigneeva, and all the wonderful teachers who bring fairy tales to the world.

Examples of fairy tales

Fairytale therapy uses fairy tales for children that are suitable for the age and goals of the child. It’s even better if it’s not a ready-made fairy tale, but one invented during therapy.

For children of preschool and primary school age, you should choose works that have a clear storyline:

household (“Porridge from an axe”, “Kolobok”, “Ryaba Chicken”, etc.);
magical (“Puss in Boots”, “Morozko”, “Crystal Mountain”, etc.);
instructive (“Fedya’s toys”, “Golden Fish”, “Fedorino’s grief”, “The Man and the Bear”, etc.);
heroic (“Sivka-Burka”, “Ilya Muromets”, etc.).

Psychotherapeutic tales

The peculiarity of such stories is that their plot should be similar to the problem that the child has, but at the same time not have a direct resemblance to it. The stories told should offer a solution to an existing problem. It’s not for nothing that they are also called fairy tales that can heal the soul.

For what age is this direction suitable? Such psychocorrectional tales are very effective for preschoolers, as well as for older children. They are also used for adolescence.

What problems can be solved with fairy tale therapy?

Fairy tale therapy is one of the best methods of gentle influence on a child who has problems with development and upbringing. The most common of them include:

capriciousness, pickiness, refusal to eat, sleep, and water procedures;
sloppiness, sloppiness, refusal to maintain cleanliness and order in one’s things;
aggressiveness, bad attitude towards other children;
shyness, self-doubt, timidity.

Characteristics of the fairy tale therapy method

In what cases is it recommended to use this method of influence on children? Psychocorrectional tales are used in working with those patients who have some behavioral and emotional difficulties. When using this method, problems that arise in preschoolers, as well as in children of primary school and other ages are solved. Psychocorrectional fairy tales help in working with insecure, aggressive and shy children, as well as those who have especially pronounced feelings of guilt, shame and lies.

Fairytale therapy assists in the treatment of psychosomatic diseases, enuresis, etc. The very process of such elimination of the problem leads to the fact that the child begins to analyze his existing deviations and realize ways to solve them.

My advice to parents

It is better for an adult to tell a fairy tale rather than read it. Then it will be possible to monitor the child’s reactions.
The child should be able to choose a fairy tale to read. If one interests him more than others, then he finds something important for himself in it.
Do not use a moralizing tone when discussing a fairy tale; the child himself must take for himself the meaning that is accessible to him.
It is undesirable to make changes to fairy tales related to modern reality. This can make it difficult to immerse yourself in the magical world.
Let your child imagine and do it together. The resulting tale can tell a lot about his inner world.

What are the reasons for the effectiveness of fairy tale therapy?

Stories told by adults attract children. Fairy tales allow a growing person to freely imagine and dream. At the same time, for a child they are a special reality that allows them to explore the adult world of experiences and feelings.

In addition, young children have a highly developed identification mechanism. In other words, it is not particularly difficult for them to emotionally unite themselves with another character or person, while appropriating his patterns of value norms. In this regard, listening to psychocorrectional fairy tales, the child begins to compare himself with their characters, while understanding that problems and experiences exist not only for him.

The purpose of psychocorrective fairy tales is to unobtrusively offer a way out of a variety of situations in the form of positive support for the capabilities of a little person, as well as ways to resolve emerging conflicts. At the same time, the child begins to imagine himself in the role of a positive hero. Why is this happening? Yes, because the position of the main character is the most attractive when compared with other characters. Thus, psychocorrectional fairy tales for children allow them to learn correct moral norms and values, as well as distinguish between evil and good.

According to experts, metaphor, which is essential to any fantastic story, allows for contact between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. What happens in the process of perceiving psychocorrective fairy tales? The left hemisphere comes into play. It extracts logical meaning from the plot. The right hemisphere remains free for creativity, imagination, fantasy and dreams.

Experts who carry out psychocorrectional work with children note that at the verbal level, conscious of the little patient, he may not accept the fairy tale at all. Nevertheless, a positive effect from such work will certainly be present, since changes, as a rule, occur at the subconscious level. It is noted that the use of the same fairy tale has different effects. Each child finds in it something that is especially relevant for him, and something that is in tune with his problems.

Based on existing practice, psychocorrectional fairy tales most often do not find much emotional response among problem-free children. They perceive them as interesting stories and do not lead to changes in behavior.

Fairytale therapy uses two approaches. These psychocorrectional methods differ from each other in the degree of individualization of magical or fantastic stories, as well as based on the level of directiveness of the method. Let's take a closer look at them.

The tale about the family of pencils is a therapeutic tale.

Age: 4-7 years. Focus: Experiences associated with “difficult” relationships with parents. Key phrase: “And I’m a bully!” Once upon a time there lived a family of pencils. One day, mom was preparing soup, and dad and son were minding their own business. Pencil was very cunning and decided to go outside, although his mother did not allow him to do this. When dad saw that Pencil had left, he went to look for him. But Pencil was so cunning that he knew that they would look for him, and he went into the forest. Dad looked for him and looked for him and couldn’t find him. When mom finished preparing the soup, she saw that dad and the pencil were missing. She wasn’t scared about dad, because she knew that when the pencil was hidden, dad went to look for it. Meanwhile, dad kept looking, and his son went further and further into the forest. When dad found him, he said: “Son, don’t go into the forest! If you do something dirty, you shouldn’t go into the forest - we’re very afraid for you.” When they returned home, mom and dad asked him very much not to do that. Mom said: “I love you very much!” Pencil felt pleased and decided not to do that again. Questions for discussion Why did the cunning Pencil leave home? Why didn’t they scold him when they found him? Why did Pencil decide not to leave home anymore?

The essence of the fairy tale treatment method

Fiction, metaphor, magical transformations that a fairy tale carries within it evoke a wide variety of emotions in the listener: indignation, joy, surprise, delight, anger, fear, pity, admiration. By telling a child a fairy tale, we immerse him in an amazing world full of extraordinary incidents.

Living the events that happen to the characters, observing behavior, reactions, and the consequences of words and actions form the basis of therapy. The solution to the listener’s internal problem occurs at a deep, subconscious level, the transmission of the “message” - values, truths, ways out of a difficult situation - occurs naturally.

The problems for which fairy tale therapy is used for children are varied and can be quite deep and serious:

fears: darkness, doctors, insects, strangers and others;
hyperactivity;
aggression;
behavioral disorders associated with physiology: overeating or refusal to eat, difficulties with bowel movements;
divorce of parents, birth of a younger child;
loss of a significant adult or beloved pet.

In these and many other cases, a fairy tale is introduced as an unobtrusive means of identifying the listener’s “sore spot”, demonstrating to him new ways of interacting with reality, ways out of the current difficult situation, showing the other side of what is happening.

Psychologists use therapeutic fairy tales to work in three areas:

Diagnostics, that is, determination of the main life scenarios of a person, characteristics of behavior and perception of the world, abilities, talents.
Therapy itself is the solution of psychological problems, consolidation of new behavior patterns and reactions.
Prognosis is help in understanding the influence of behavior in the present on future life events.

The fairytale therapy method is used by psychologists, doctors, and teachers of various directions, since it is a synthesis of the achievements of all these sciences and affects on a deep emotional level, that is, the powerful and effective work of the subconscious is involved.

In addition to the fairy tale itself, specialists use other genres: parables, legends, fables, epics, myths, anecdotes, sagas, fantasy, detective stories. The choice of genre focus is based on the age, interests of the listener, and the nature of the difficulties he or she has. It is important that the metaphor in the story being told is correctly selected - the effectiveness of therapeutic techniques depends on it.

Methods of working with literary text

For the most complete disclosure by the patient of his internal experiences and personal qualities, different methods of working with literary text are used:

A psychologist working on behavior correction reads a story or fairy tale. While reading, the child should relax, listen silently, and get used to the therapist’s voice, facial expressions and gestures. It is expected that in the first 10-15 minutes contact should be established between the doctor and his client;
Discussion of the story. When contact is established, it is easier for a young child or teenager to get involved in work. At this stage, the gradual disclosure of personality begins. The psychologist observes his patient, takes into account the tone of voice, monitors body movements, gestures, facial expressions, and expression of emotions.
Trusting relationship. The point here is to give your client the opportunity to compose a story himself, to bring something new to what he heard. Sometimes this moment needs to be postponed to the next therapy session so that the child has time to comprehend the situation and rearrange some elements in his thinking;
If the client is shy, worried, or has difficulty making contact, then the doctor gives him the opportunity to express his feelings and attitudes towards the characters of the fairy tale through creativity. For example, you can ask a small patient to draw the characters of a story with pencils, or to mold them from plasticine. During this process, a person’s mood can be recorded. Sometimes both techniques are used in the work - at the beginning of the session and at the end. Usually, after a creative act, negative emotions change, so the next drawing will be lighter.

During long sessions of fairytale therapy, the specialist together with the children create dolls, which will later be used to stage a theatrical performance in which situations are played out.

A therapeutic fairy tale. Fairytale therapy for children

In one city there lived a girl. Such a small Girl, with a snub nose, radiant eyes and thin pigtails. The girl's name was Katyusha. The girl's mother and father went to work, and she stayed at home with her grandmother. Everything would be fine, but Katyusha didn’t like porridge. She didn’t really like to eat at all, but she simply couldn’t stand porridge. Grandmother persuaded her this way and that. She explained how useful porridge is for small children, sang songs to her, told her fairy tales, even danced and showed her magic tricks. Nothing helped. Our Katyusha first asked to add butter, then sugar, then salt, and then flatly refused to eat “this disgusting thing.” And at this time, a small, harmful Capriciousness escaped from one absent-minded wizard and set off around the world in search of shelter, until the wizard had enough and returned her back to the dark chest. Capriciousness was sneaking around the city when she suddenly heard a loud cry from a girl: “I don’t want to!” I won’t eat this porridge of yours!” Capriciousness looked through the open window and saw Katyusha eating. "Wonderful!" - thought Kaprizka and jumped straight into Katyusha’s wide open mouth. No one, of course, noticed anything, but from that day on Katyusha became completely unbearable. She refused to eat even the delicious cutlets prepared by her grandmother, even the fluffy golden brown pancakes with strawberry jam! The capriciousness in her grew and grew every day. And she herself became thinner and more transparent. Moreover, Kaprizka gradually began to stick her nose out and offend Katyusha’s relatives. And one day my grandmother suddenly said: “I won’t clean the house anymore, and I won’t cook anymore either, no one wants to eat it anyway!” And she sat down on the balcony and began to knit a long, very long striped sock. And my mother said: “I don’t want to go to the store anymore to buy food, clothes and toys!” She lay down on the sofa and began to read a thick book. And dad said: “I don’t want to go to work anymore!” He placed chess on the board and began an endless game with himself. And among all this disgrace sat a satisfied Capriciousness, admiring what she had done. And Katyusha went to the mirror and looked at herself. She did not see her radiant eyes - they went out and acquired gray circles. The nose drooped, and the pigtails puffed up in different directions, like the branches of a Christmas tree. Katyusha felt sorry for herself and began to cry. And she was also so ashamed that she had offended her grandmother. It’s not even clear where such a little girl came from so many tears! The tears flowed and flowed. They turned into a river! And these tears were such sincere tears of repentance that they simply washed the unwary Capriciousness out into the street, straight into the hands of the wizard looking for her. And Katyusha suddenly realized how hungry she was. She went to the kitchen, took a saucepan with the rest of the porridge from the refrigerator and ate it all, even without butter, sugar and salt. Having cried and eaten, she fell asleep right there at the table. And I didn’t hear how dad carried her to the crib and, kissing her on the cheek, ran to work. Mom kissed her daughter on the other cheek, salty from tears, and also left. And grandma, having thrown her striped sock somewhere, was rattling pots and pans in the kitchen, intending to prepare a delicious dinner for the whole family!