Examination of Cypriot Turkish folk tales in terms of child development

Abstract

Tales are among the most important literary genres of child literature which plays an essential role in the development of pre-school children. In addition to entertaining children, tales also prepare them for life, and are frequently used by both pedagogues and families as an extremely important genre. The child, who identifies himself with the hero in the fairy tale, gains the spirit of struggle knowing that there is a solution to the difficulties he may see in life. In addition, fairy tales play an important role in developing children's imagination and in providing them with listening and speaking skills. Therefore, the educational functions of fairy tales are important in every country and it is emphasized that the growth of children with fairy-tales especially in pre-school period is very important for their social and psychological development. Despite these important benefits of tales, it is a known fact that not all tales can be told to children. Therefore, the tales to be used in the education of children should be carefully selected. First of all, fairy tales should be chosen according to the level and development of the child. In addition, as in every country's tales, Turkish Cypriot folk tales have elements that can adversely affect the psychological and social development of children. Families and teachers should take due care and be selective. In this research, 15 Turkish Cypriot folk tales selected by random method were examined and effort is paid to determine and evaluate elements that could be harmful to children.