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Telling stories to children is the only act that I find, is enjoyable, challenging and motivating, all at the same time. Parables, tales from holy books and even imaginary stories compel children to ponder and share their emotions. The best part is that it helps you to inculcate the right values in your children. How does story telling help children?
Telling stories to children help us to communicatewith children, something our busy schedules don’t let us do.
Communication via story telling helps children to familiarize themselves with the codes of conduct that are essential to survive in today’s world. Story telling helps a child to share his/her feelings and thoughts that are essential for the all round development of any child. Telling stories helps children build up their sense of individual values through tales on love, patience, honesty and the like. But, are children inclined towards listening?
Why not? If you have the intention and the conviction to develop good values in them then, story telling becomes a wonderful medium.
Do not underestimate a child’s power of imagination. Children are more adventurous than adults. Any simple tale combined with your interest, synchronized by voice modulation can do wonders to teach them little lessons about life and also stimulate their imagination. When children hear stories about situations they could possibly be in, it makes them identify with the story set-up and make sense of their own tiny conflicts. The extended family in India like the grandparents and even parents themselves in nuclear families can make a difference to the lives of children by telling them stories that they will remember all their lives.
Isn’t story telling an old fashioned concept?
If you go back to the stories from the Panchatantra, the Ramayana, the Mahabaharata, the Bible or the Jataka tales then story telling indeed goes way back in history. But, it is still relevant today and this has been proved time and again by psychologists who say that story telling helps children know the difference between knowing good and doing good.
For a society so obsessed with itself, where children know too much too soon, telling stories with love seems to be the only thing that builds up clean values and also uses these values to bond, to learn and to connect. Do you take some time out to tell stories to children? How do you think it helps? Do you think television and growing up too soon has killed the art of story telling?
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