Traditional fairytales are being ditched by parents because they are too scary for their young children, a study found.

一项研究发现，父母们开始摒弃传统的童话故事，因为它们对年幼的孩子来说太吓人。

Research revealed one in five parents has scrapped old classics such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Rapunzel in favour of more modern books.

One third of parents said their children have been left in tears after hearing the gruesome（可怕的） details of Little Red Riding Hood.

And nearly half of mothers and fathers refuse to read Rumplestiltskin to their kids as the themes of the story are kidnapping and execution.

Similarly, Goldilocks and the Three Bears was also a tale likely to be left on the book shelf as parents felt it condones（宽恕，赦免） stealing.

The survey of 2,000 adults was commissioned to mark the launch of the hit US drama GRIMM, which starts tonight at 9pm on Watch, and sees six gritty episodes based on traditional fairytales.

The poll found a quarter of parents polled wouldn't consider reading a fairytale to their child until they had reached the age of five, as they prompt too many awkward questions from their offspring.

And 52 percent of the parents said Cinderella didn't send a good message to their children as it portrays a young woman doing housework all day.

Steve Hornsey, General Manager of Watch, said: "Bedtime stories are supposed to soothe children and send them off to sleep soundly.

"But as we see in GRIMM, fairytales can be dark and dramatic tales so it's understandable that parents worry about reading them to young children.

"As adults we can see the innocence in fairytales, but a five year old with an over active imagination could take things too literally.

"Despite the dark nature of classic fairytales, as we see in GRIMM, good will triumph over evil and there is always a moral to the story."

The study also found two thirds of mums and dads try to avoid stories which might give their children nightmares.