“Hansel and Gretel” is a German folk tale written down by the Brothers Grimm. The tale is very interesting in its content. Folk tales, as a rule, describe life situations and phenomena in metaphorical language. In this article I analyze the phenomena hidden in the plot of this fairy tale. Let me briefly remind you of the content. Hansel and Gretel's parents lived poorly, and when there was no money in the family, they decided to take the children to the forest and abandon them there. They say it’s better to let wolves eat them than for our beloved children to die of hunger before our eyes. Children, left alone in the forest, get scared, but do not lose their presence of mind and try to find their way home. They come out into a clearing where they see a beautiful gingerbread house. A sweet old woman comes out of the house, takes pity on the children, feeds them and puts them to sleep in cozy beds. And when the children wake up, instead of a cozy gingerbread house and a sweet old lady, they see a dirty house in a cobweb and an evil witch. The witch puts Hansel in a cage and fattens him so that he can be eaten later, but Gretel does not feed him and forces him to do all the dirty work in the house. One day the witch orders Gretel to collect ash from the stove. Gretel says she can’t. The witch shows her how to do it, and meanwhile Gretel pushes her into the stove and closes it with a damper. She frees Hansel, they find treasure in the witch's house and return home with it. And since then the whole family lives happily and comfortably. What do we see in this story? Firstly, parents, adults, instead of trying to solve the problem - earn money, shoot a wild boar, etc. - they simply abandon their children. They are so infantile that they condemn their own children to a terrible death: it would be better if they were eaten by wolves, but we would not see them die of hunger. In the end, everything ends well. But who solved the problem? Children who brought home treasures on which the family began to live. The above described is nothing more than the phenomenon of parentification - a change of roles: children become parents to their parents. In life, we can observe such a phenomenon in families of alcoholics. Children begin to take care of their unlucky, unadapted parents. And not only in families of alcoholics. Sometimes parents are so infantile that they are unable to cope with difficulties and solve ordinary everyday problems. And then the not yet adult child takes care of them. The kind grandmother, who turns into a witch, here also acts as a parental figure. A caring and sweet old lady is the image of an ideal receiving mother who gives unconditional love. The transformation of the sweet old lady into a witch represents a rejecting mother who is oblivious to the needs of her children. She is also a restraining and all-consuming mother, because in the fairy tale she is going to eat Hansel. In this fairy tale, we see two opposite extreme sides of one phenomenon. And finally, the “pushing” of the witch into the stove and the escape of the children from her house personifies the idea of ​​separation. Separation literally means separation from parents. Psychological separation is a long process, it begins at about a year old, gradually gains momentum and reaches its apogee in adolescence. It is teenagers who openly declare to their parents their adulthood and independence and demand freedom. The purpose of separation is to leave the parental family and create your own family. So, behind the interesting and rather harsh plot of this fairy tale lies great wisdom. We see a description of three psychological phenomena at once: separation, parentification and mother archetypes. You can sign up for a consultation with me by phone: 8-916-913-40-11 or follow the link Sign up for a consultation